N.Korea Scared of Dissent Among Young People

The North Korean regime seems increasingly terrified of dissent among the younger generation, threatening draconian punishment for the slightest deviation from the puritanical Stalinism that is its ruling ideology.

The rubberstamp Supreme People's Assembly is to discuss a law on "ensuring education of young people" next month to try and brainwash a generation that has grown up with some nascent freedoms and glimpses of the outside world thanks to open-air markets.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in April called for crackdown on creeping decadence like South Korean-style clothing, slang and other behavior among young North Koreans.

The assembly meets on Sept. 28 to deliberate on the law, the official Rodong Sinmun reported Thursday.

Last December, the regime also made distributing South Korean films and videos punishable by death and watching or listening to them by up to 15 years in prison. The state media have repeatedly inveighed against "anti-socialist" behavior and demanded absolute ideological fealty.

At a Workers Party meeting in April, Kim said, "Turning all party cells into healthy and viable ones which are closely knitted in bonds of human feelings... Those that are not knitted in bonds of human feelings cannot become loyal cells."

Prof. Nam Sung-wook of Korea University said, "This aims to suppress free thought and expression of the 'open-air market generation' who have got used to a capitalist way of thinking due to the influence of markets and South Korean pop culture."