A North Korean defector in his 20s told Japanese media that young people in North Korea have recently turned their backs on Kim Jong-un due to complaints about the authorities.
On the 27th, Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun reported an interview with Kang Gyu-ri (24, pseudonym), who attended a film screening and lecture event on North Korean human rights held in Tokyo, Japan from the 26th to the 27th.Mr. Kang
defected from North Korea last October and is currently living in Seoul.
Kang, who was born in Pyongyang, said he enjoyed a relatively relaxed life and worked as a table tennis player at Pyongyang Sports University, but he became dissatisfied with the system and defected.
North Korean authorities' excessive restrictions on South Korean culture are causing opposition from young North Koreans.Mr. Kang
said, "Every time I walked down the street, I was called by the police and checked if I didn't use Korean expressions such as 'oppa' in my phone text messages."
He also reported that there was an open trial of young people who watched Korean dramas.
In fact, in July, North Korean authorities openly shot and killed about 30 teenagers for watching a Korean drama on USB in a leaflet to North Korea.
In addition, an educational video of handcuffing and arresting teenagers for watching Korean dramas was released in September.
Despite the news, Kang claimed that he could not give up on Korean dramas that allowed him to endure a hard life, and that young North Koreans, including himself, began to value individual life and happiness over groups and organizations.
Gang said, "I have no loyalty to Kim Jong-un, who is executed for watching Korean dramas," adding, "It is a characteristic of our generation that we do not blindly follow the authorities." The beginning of a change in North Korean society," he stressed.
"There is no one in North Korea who doesn't know that South Korea is an advanced country," he said. "But most of them don't know that South Koreans consider North Koreans as the same people and try to help them, and that they can have Korean citizenship if they go to South Korea."
a reporter for the digital news team|Lee Yu-na
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