It's not anything out of the ordinary to hear of a stringent law being enforced by the North Korean leader and the latest in the row is the use of slang language and certain expressions.?
According to reports,?North Koreans face the gulag for using slang words after?Kim Jong-un?unleashed a bizarre new crackdown on 'perverted' language.
For those unaware, Gulags started as?a system of labour camps in the Soviet Union from 1930 to 1955 in which many people died.?
The law was introduced last month in December to crack down on the use of those words in textspeak.
Authorities will be allowed to inspect citizens' phones to check for any mention of slang, according to reports.?Those caught will be suspected of flouting the ban on South Korean TV and could face the gulag.
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Talking to Rimjingang, a Japan-based magazine focused on the dictatorship, one North Korean parent revealed the sort of harmless slang that could land kids in hot water.
'The target of the crackdown is the text messages on cell phones,' they said.?'It has been a while since South Korean dramas first came to North Korea, right?
'Since cell phones have become common recently, young people are using South Korean phrases in their text messages.
'For example, almost all young people are using 'saranghaeyeong' (I love you), 'chal-ka' (see you), 'bye-bye,' and 'ty' (the English abbreviation for thank you) in their texts,' they explained.
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They continued: 'If there are any expressions in the text messages that are not used in North Korea, the owner of the device will be suspected of watching South Korean dramas and interrogated.
'Inspectors also check the text messages for any rumours or complaints about difficulties due to the Covid-19 pandemic.?A three-page document marked ¡°top secret¡±, which was obtained by Rimjingang, sheds more light on the ban.In the document, Kim Jong-un brands South Korea a ¡°puppet¡± of the USA and names more banned words.?
He says: ¡°We must strongly eradicate the (South Korean) ¡®puppet words¡¯ and ¡®puppet style¡¯ from our society.¡°In the past, I have repeatedly warned against the phenomenon of young men and women who are not blood relatives using the ¡®puppet¡¯s language¡¯ to refer to each other.¡°Such as ¡®oppa¡¯ (older brother) and ¡®dong-saeng¡¯ (younger sister, brother).
Use of mobile phones is also growing in the closed-off country, though handsets are blocked from accessing the internet and can only reach a government-controlled intranet.
The new law, called the Law on the Elimination of Reactionary Thought and Culture, reportedly even bans parents from picking names considered too South Korean.
Some parents have actually been forced to rename their children, according to Rimjingang.
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Greg Scarlatoiu, director of the Washington DC-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, said the Kim regime clearly felt threatened by South Korea¡¯s growing soft power.
'This new law is part of efforts by the North Korean regime to block information from the outside world and South Korea in particular,' he said.
'They do this by employing new content, using new technologies, and applying judicial and extrajudicial punishment to those attempting to access such information.'