New York Times: “Kim Jong-un called it a ‘vicious cancer’ corrupting young North Koreans’ ‘attire, hairstyles, speeches, behaviors.’ His state media has warned that if left unchecked, it would make North Korea ‘crumble like a damp wall.’ After winning fans around the world, South Korean pop culture has entered the final frontier: North Korea, where its growing influence has prompted the leader of the totalitarian state to declare a new culture war to stop it. But even a dictator may have trouble holding back the tide. In recent months, hardly a day has gone by without Mr. Kim or state media railing against ‘anti-socialist and nonsocialist’ influences spreading in his country, especially South Korean movies, K-dramas and K-pop videos. As part of a panicked attempt to reassert control, Mr. Kim has ordered his government to stamp out the cultural invasion.”

“The censorship is anything but a peevish dictator’s tantrum. It comes at a time when the North’s economy is floundering and its diplomacy with the West has stalled, perhaps leaving the country’s youth more receptive to outside influence and challenging Mr. Kim’s firm grip on North Korean society. ‘Young North Koreans think they owe nothing to Kim Jong-un,’ said Jung Gwang-il, a defector from the North who runs a network that smuggles K-pop into North Korea. ‘He must reassert his ideological control on the young if he doesn’t want to lose the foundation for the future of his family’s dynastic rule.’ Mr. Kim’s family has ruled the North for three generations, and loyalty from millennials in the country has often been tested. They came of age during a famine in the late 1990s, when the government was unable to provide rations, causing millions to die. Families survived by buying food from unofficial markets stocked with goods smuggled from China, including bootlegged entertainment from the South.”