Thread by @BonicMichael

Moranbong Band, Kim Jong Un's answer to K-pop, garnering attention in South Korea
The leader of the band is making headlines after a visit to South Korea.
[From January 23, 2018]
abcnews.go.com/International/…

2/“Moranbong Band is an all-female music group from North Korea. Popular for its sensuous performances, the band makes use of synthesizers and electric guitars on stage. Even more shocking, performers wear short skirts and show off flashy dance moves to attract public gaze --

3/"more in line with South Korean pop groups than traditional, conservative performance groups in North Korea.

The band's debut concert in July 2012 came as a refreshing jolt to North Korean people. Strobe lights, electric instruments and state-of-the-art stage settings were

4/"more than enough to fascinate its audience.

Young beautiful women, capable of playing instruments, singing and dancing, were a new phenomenon in the isolated country, free from Western pop music. In each show, six to eight members come up on stage to perform the communist

5/"state's propaganda tunes. They perform titles -- translated from Korean -- such as "My Country is the Best," "Hymn of Advancing Socialism" and "Glory to General Kim Jong Un," all praising their leader.

The same year Moranbong Band made their debut, North Korea’s local paper

6/"Rodong Sinmun proudly reported about the band’s 10-day-long concert in Pyongyang.

Signaling a change

When the Moranbong Band was introduced to public in 2012, as Kim’s regime began to settle into Pyongyang, it left behind memories of the Unhasu orchestra from the Kim Jong Il

7/"era.

Kim began a concerted effort to spread propaganda though new cultural policies. Moranbong Band was a symbol Kim put forward in order to show people the direction of change in North Korea.

"Kim used Moranbong Band to signal change in the regime. From now on, propaganda

8/"and agitation will be carried out based on Morangbong Band," Lee Woo-Young, research staff at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Kyungnam University told ABC News.

Adhering to its intentions, Moranbong Band is differentiated from other performance groups in North Korea.

9/"Adhering to its intentions, Moranbong Band is differentiated from other performance groups in North Korea. Their music is westernized, up-tempo and digital, heavily focusing on visual affect. Lee explained it has a lot to do with the foreign culture that has been penetrating

10/"into North Korea in the 21st century.

"Cultural standards of North Korea's people began to change," Lee said. "This means they could no longer unify the people with the old, traditional-style cultural arts. So they have to meet the new cultural standards.”

Kim even gave

11/"the name Moranbong to the band himself, according to Maeil Business News Korea.

Kim's favorite music group

In September 2014, Kim and his wife were spotted enjoying the Moranbong concert in Mansudae Art Theater, Pyongyang, North Korea.

12/"Korean Central News Agency reported the same day that "the great leader said the Moranbong Band brought up their revolutionary and militant ability to create songs in the concert."

Reportedly, Kim has the right to make final selection of Moranbong Band members.”

@threadreaderapp compile