More news from North Korea, where imitating dance moves from a South Korean boy band can get you in a whole lot of trouble:
Three North Korean soldiers in their 20s were transported back to their military base on their way to Mt. Baekdu for having imitated a dance to South Korean boyband Bangtan Sonyondan (BTS)’s “Blood, Sweat & Tears.”
According to a Daily NK military source on Tuesday, the incident occurred at Sokhu Station in South Hamgyong Province during the evening of Aug. 5. After a train heading from Pyongyang to Hyesan suddenly stopped in its tracks due to a power outage, the three soldiers, who are part of the country’s Army Air and Anti-Air Force, imitated the dance during a “party” thrown as the train remained idle. Then, Defense Security Command (DSC) officers who were watching the dancing suddenly “grabbed the three soldiers and took them away.”
Following a decision by two officers from the General Political Bureau and DSC, the three soldiers were transported back to their base by security officials at Sukhu Station. Their alleged crime was “imitating a corrupt dance from South Chosun [South Korea] while heading [to Mt. Baekdu] to learn about the revolutionary spirit of patriotic martyrs.”
The three soldiers were reportedly “model soldiers,” which led to surprise among their fellow soldiers that they had been deemed by the authorities as “ideologically corrupt to the core.” […]
There are rumors that the soldiers could face, at minimum, six months hard labor along with demotions; the worst case scenario is that they could be handed a dishonorable discharge.
There are also questions surrounding how the DSC officials were able to accurately discern that the dance came from a BTS song. This, however, “is not likely to become an issue” given that there is a special department within the agency that “watches foreign-made videos three hours once per week,” according to the source.
So that's OK then.
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