NORTH KOREAN TEACHER AND STUDENTS ARRESTED FOR ‘CAPITALIST’ DANCE MOVES
A female North Korean dance teacher in her 30’s was reportedly arrested along with her students for using a USB drive (likely smuggled from China) containing foreign songs and videos to teach ‘capitalist’ dance moves.
The dance teacher majored in choreography at the Pyongsong University of Arts and taught at Okchon high school in Pyongsong. Another source revealed that “it was difficult to live on just the monthly teacher’s salary of only 3,000 won [$0.60 USD], so she made her actual living by running a private dance academy out of her home”. It was reported that middle and high school students attended her private lessons twice a week for one or two-hour sessions at about $10 per hour as “[they] preferred to learn to dance like they do in South Korea, China and America, rather than in the North Korean style.”
The government passed the Elimination of Reactionary Thought and Culture Act in late 2020, which criminalizes citizens for a range of capitalist-deemed activities, such as tinting car windows, using South Korean-style speech and slang, and watching, keeping, or distributing media from capitalist countries, particularly from South Korea and the U.S. The law carries a maximum penalty of death for the most serious offenses.
An Anti-Socialism Inspection Group was set up as a joint operation of the State Security Department and the police as part of North Korea’s crackdown measures on citizens watching South Korean movies and distributing foreign media. A source told Radio Free Asia that in the past, North Korean authorities tended to be more lenient in enforcing the rules around Lunar New Year but that has not been the case this year.
According to a third source, “since the Central Committee has ordered that those who violate [the Act] be severely punished regardless of their rank or class, the foreign dance instructor and students caught this time will not be spared from hard labor. Their parents are also likely to be punished by being forced to leave the party.”
Recent crackdowns on high-ranking cadres include a chief official from the Ministry of State Security in Pyongyang , who was sent to a political prison camp (Camp 25 in Chongjin, which is a place so notorious that being sent there is regarded as a death sentence) along with his entire family after his child was caught watching South Korean TV programmes and distributing illegal storage devices to his acquaintance.
Source:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10482723/North-Korean-authorities-arrests-dance-tutor-students-taught-capitalist-dance-moves.html
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/dance-02042022182536.html
https://www.dailynk.com/english/family-high-ranking-north-korean-cadre-sent-prison-camp-violating-anti-reactionary-thought-law/
FAMOUS NORTH KOREAN ACTORS BEG FOR FOOD IN MARKETS
Actors from the Korean Art Film Studio, the largest film studio in North Korea, were seen "[using] their fame to beg for food” at Pyongsong’s Okjon Market.
North Korean film stars are ranked from levels one to six and assigned work based on their education and acting abilities. Unless they are crowned with distinguished titles of “Meritorious Actor / Actress” or “People’s Actor / Actress,” it is said to be difficult to survive on the standardized government rations alone.
Normally, famous actors avoid doing business to “save face” but as the economy has worsened following the pandemic, some performers risk tarnishing their reputations by going out to beg.
“I don’t know how I’m going to survive without any help from the government,” said an actor, “I can’t do business because I’m so famous...[we] have barely survived, and only because my wife and kids have been doing business. Because of the coronavirus, business hasn’t been going well. So, I had no choice but to come [to beg]”.
On the contrary, a source told Daily NK that “[singers] are doing well these days because [Kim Jong-un]’s wife [Ri Sol-ju] is a vocalist.” During the former Kim Jong-il administration, art films were popular for their use as instruments for political propaganda. However, interest in art films has diminished since Kim Jong-un took power (the last art film that was produced by North Korea was in 2016) and there has been an increased interest in performance arts. Consequently, band performers have experienced a jump in pay and social stature.
NORTH KOREA STEALS MILLIONS FROM CRYPTOCURRENCY EXCHANGES
According to a recent UN report, North Korea “cyber-actors stole more than $50 million between 2020 and mid-2021 from at least three cryptocurrency exchanges in North America, Europe and Asia, probably reflecting a shift to diversify its cybercrime operations” to fund its nuclear and missile programs.
An unidentified cybersecurity firm further reported that in 2021 the North’s “cyber-actors stole a total of $400 million worth of cryptocurrency through seven intrusions into cryptocurrency exchanges and investment firms.”
It was also reported that North Korea’s “total theft of virtual assets from 2019 to November 2020 is valued at approximately $316.4 million”.
Through a carefully implemented money laundering system, funds are taken out of victim organizations’ internet-connected ‘hot’ wallets into North Korea-controlled addresses in order to be cashed out.
Experts monitoring the implementation of UN sanctions against North Korea commented that cyberattacks on cryptocurrency assets remain an important revenue source for Kim Jong-un's administration.
Source:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-07/north-korea-missiles-cyberattack-funding/100809480
https://www.live5news.com/2022/02/07/un-experts-north-korea-stealing-millions-cyber-attacks/
NORTH KOREA DEVELOPS AND FIRES INCREASINGLY DANGEROUS MANEUVERABLE MISSILES
Just in January of 2022, North Korea has systematically conducted a variety of missile testing (including a ballistic missile capable of hitting the U.S. territory of Guam) in the following order:
January 5: missile fitted with aerodynamic glide vehicle which North Korea claimed to have traveled 435 miles
January 11: second missile fitted with aerodynamic glide vehicle which North Korea claimed to have traveled 621 miles (1,000km)
January 14: rail-mobile KN-23 SRBMs fired from a railway car with an estimated range of 429 miles (690km)
January17 : road-mobile KN-24 SRBMs fired from a road-mobile transport vehicle with an estimated range of 255 miles (410km)
January 25: long-range cruise missiles fired from a transporter erector launcher which North Korea claimed to have traveled 1,118 miles (1,800km)
January 27: road-mobile KN-23 SRBMs fired from a road-mobile transport vehicle with an estimated range of 429 miles (690km)
January 30: hwasong-12 IRBM fired with an estimated range of 2797 miles (4,5000km)
Defense experts’ biggest concern is the North’s development of a new generation of maneuverable weapons designed to evade missile defense systems. Unlike a ballistic missile, which follows a predictable parabolic trajectory affected only by gravity and atmospheric drag, a maneuverable missile’s path can be changed mid-flight through the manipulation of fins or winglets and, in some cases, propulsion systems such as air-breathing engines.
Experts commented that North Korea continues “to seek material, technology and knowhow for these programs overseas, including through cyber means and joint scientific research.”
As North Korea rapidly develops sophisticated nuclear and ballistic missile programs, including its capability to produce nuclear fissile materials in violation of UN security council resolutions, other weapons including a development of hypersonic missile and submarine-launched missile have also been recently tested.
