The 38th parallel, a popular name given to latitude 38° N that in East Asia roughly demarcates North Korea and South Korea. Initially meant as just a temporary truce-line while the legal intricacies of officially ending the Korean War were sorted out, it has unfortunately become a permanent feature that separates the 2 Korean states. Well, it looks like things may soon change…..
An TV variety news programme recently aired by the Free Asia channel featured a news snippet that talked about the increasing popularity of K-Pop among the youths in the strongly Communist state of North Korea.
A Chinese businessman, whose job requirement necessitated frequent travel to North Korea, was quoted as saying: “Korean dances have started becoming more popular among the youth in Pyongyang lately. Just a while back, I got a request from an upper class woman asking me to get a Girls’ Generation CD for her.” He went on to add that: “Upper class men in their 20′s or younger who live in Pyongyang are getting so fanatical about K-Pop that if you don’t know South Korean dances, you don’t fit in. Famous dance instructors who teach professionally in Pyongyang have also been popping up recently, and they receive $20 for a months’ worth of dance lessons. These instructors turn on dance music behind closed doors and teach their students how to dance and sing. Nowadays, mothers in upper class homes don’t send their children for accordion, guitar or music lessons. Instead, they have started gaining interest in learning to sing and dance.”
Comments by Netizens to this piece of information ranged from: “Hallyu has dug its way to North Korea.”, “Incredible strength of K-Pop!” to  ”Korean dances performed by North Korean children… I wonder what that’s like?”
Well, it certainly looks like our 9 beloved ladies may actually have a chance to make a big difference in the geo-political situation of the world by their music and influence. Wouldn’t it be great if the angelic 9 actually showcased a K-Pop All Stars concert in Pyongyang, and the positive impact of the event initiated the powers-that-be in the 2 countries to finally start talking about a permanent peace to their longstanding feud ;) ?
I am pretty sure UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon (Seohyun’s idol :) ) will be forever grateful to our beautiful ladies for their help in ending this divisive situation between the 2 countries.
If that were to actually occur, our beloved ladies will truly have achieved world domination :D .