[imagesource: Reddit]

The most we ever get to see from the notoriously clandestine nation of North Korea is how macho its dictator Kim Jong Un is or that there’s a new weapon of mass destruction being tested.

There have been occasions when we’ve been able to see both in action at the same time.

The few glimpses we do get to see of “normal life” in the wildly closed-off country tend to be heavily staged, cementing the cult personality of Kim and his rogue nation.

Then, out comes some footage of a pop concert being held in the country, giving us rare and valuable insight into what goes on when they’re not threatening to nuke enemies.

We all know what a music concert looks like, but the way North Korea does it is completely unique.

Instead of the usual background dancers, this pop show has singers serenading footage of their leader bellowing beautifully in the snow.

Behold:

It’s the audience full of military men in uniforms, applauding the performance without even smiling, that really gets you.

The country does live by completely different rules compared to the rest of the world, going to great lengths to crack down on what it deems Western, ‘capitalist’ trends, per Times Now:

In December 2021, North Korea barred citizens from laughing, drinking, and grocery shopping for 11 days to mark the tenth anniversary of former leader Kim Jong Il’s death. Earlier this year, Kim Jong-un reportedly sent a group of gardeners to labour camps because their flowers didn’t bloom.

Tight trousers and stylish haircuts have been banned, per Unilad, and rather, everyone must wear pretty much the same thing so as to be “directly connected to the future of the motherland”.

Except you can’t wear a leather coat like the one Kim wears because that would be challenging the authority.

The law against K-pop (popular in neighbouring country South Korea) is intensely monitored, a genre of music that Kim himself has called a “vicious cancer”.

If any pop content gets smuggled over the Korean border, the person can be severely punished and could even face the death penalty.

I guess, just because it is a punishable crime to listen to international pop artists in North Korea doesn’t mean the nation is totally void of pop music and concerts.

At least they have a healthier way to release tension, no matter how strange.

[source:timesnow]