"Using Puppet Language Residue Means Death Penalty"... North Korea Blocks South Korean Speech Trend

Enactment of Pyongyang Munhwa Language Protection Act in January This Year
Influence of Korean Popular Culture... Crackdown on South Korean Speech Trends

The “Pyongyang Munhwaeo Protection Law” was adopted in North Korea to protect the standard language, Munhwaeo. An analysis has drawn attention by suggesting that the provisions of this law allow us to infer the trends of South Korean speech patterns spreading in North Korea.

North Korea enacted the Pyongyang Munhwaeo Protection Law in January this year and revealed detailed contents in June. According to this law, using or teaching the so-called “puppet speech” (South Korean speech patterns) (Article 59 of the same law, Crime of Spreading Puppet Speech) can result in the death penalty.

On the 12th, the official magazine of the National Unification Advisory Council, Peaceful Unification, published a contribution by Senior Researcher Park Young-ja of the Institute for Unification Studies. According to the article, Section 2 of the Pyongyang Munhwaeo Protection Law defines terms of address such as “oppa” and “jagi” used for the opposite sex, and the usage of adding “nim” after titles like “sajangnim” as “puppet speech remnants” that must be eradicated.

Researcher Park explained, “Due to the influence of South Korean popular culture, among North Korean youth, ‘oppa’ became popular instead of ‘dongmu’ or ‘dongji,’ and the use of titles with the suffix ‘nim’ also became widespread.”

Article 22 prohibits imitating the “puppet-style intonation,” described as a “sycophantic, affected, and disgusting intonation that drags out and raises the end of sentences.”

North Korean students.
Photo by Yonhap News

Additionally, Article 23 states that “children’s names should not be given in a sloppy puppet-style manner, nor should pseudonyms imitating puppet speech be created and used on mobile phones or computer networks,” and Article 44 prohibits “arbitrarily shortening some institutional names and forms of address in daily life in ways that do not conform to the norms.” This suggests that abbreviations of official names and nicknames used in online spaces are also inferred to have become popular under South Korean influence.

North Korea’s strict response to the spread of South Korean speech patterns is aimed at maintaining the regime. The law states, “The eradication of puppet speech remnants is to uphold the socialist system and the spiritual and cultural life of the people, and to further strengthen the revolutionary and class positions.”

In particular, the “Jangmadang generation” in their late 20s to 30s has been identified as a focus of intensive scrutiny. Jangmadang refers to underground economic markets that emerged during the “Arduous March” period in the mid-1990s. In other words, the Jangmadang generation grew up witnessing their parents accumulate wealth through unofficial economic activities in the Jangmadang, thus experiencing capitalism.

Meanwhile, Researcher Park analyzed that the routes through which South Korean speech patterns infiltrate can also be inferred from the legal provisions: ▲infiltration through bribery across borders ▲leaflets and “mulgeonjjak” (slang for goods) sent via the air ▲infiltration through coastal areas ▲infiltration through foreign-related business ▲infiltration through overseas business trips and visits.

One notable provision states, “Workers of law enforcement and supervisory control agencies must not tolerate, encourage, or lightly handle acts of imitating puppet speech due to receiving money or goods, being pressured by authority, or being involved in nepotistic relationships.” This suggests that personnel in disciplinary and supervisory institutions may be overlooking the distribution of South Korean popular culture due to bribery or personal connections.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.