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Why North Korea isn’t happy about South Korea’s pop culture soft power

November 18, 2021
GZERO Staff
Why North Korea Isn’t Happy About South Korea’s Pop-culture Soft Power | GZERO World

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South Korea is having a global pop culture moment. Right now Squid Game is top show on Netflix. Parasite was the first non-English language film to win Best Picture at the 2020 Oscars. And then there's BTS, breaking records with their songs and even making a splash at the UN, further proof of K-pop's influence beyond music along with online fans ruining a Trump rally in Oklahoma. As South Korea expands its soft power, Kim Jong Un sees it as a growing threat to his rule over North Korea, and says K-pop is a "vicious cancer."

Watch this episode of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer: The Korean Peninsula from K-Pop to Kim Jong-un

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