"Are You Joseonjok? Or a Puppet?"... YouTuber Visiting Dandong Embarrassed After Hearing Employee's Words

A travel YouTuber visiting the Dandong area in China has attracted attention after being asked "Are you a puppet?" by a North Korean-born employee. On the 23rd, the YouTube channel ‘Lerikko LET IT GO’ uploaded a video titled 'An Incident at the North Korean Sinuiju Border Area.' The video shows the YouTuber visiting a Korean-Chinese-run barbecue restaurant in Dandong, China.

[Image source=YouTube channel 'Lerikko LET IT GO' capture]

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However, the video briefly features a conversation with a female employee who appears to be from North Korea, drawing attention. When the YouTuber ordered food and drinks in Korean, the employee first asked, “Did you come alone?” Upon answering “Yes,” the employee asked again, “But which country are you from? Are you Joseonjok, or are you a puppet?” Hearing the word ‘puppet,’ the YouTuber seemed taken aback and laughed aloud, saying, “A puppet? The word ‘puppet’...”

The employee then said, “Aren’t you a puppet?” and asked again in Chinese, “Are you Joseonjok or Korean?” The YouTuber replied, “I’m Korean, Korean.” The employee also asked, “How do you travel if you can’t speak Chinese?”

The YouTuber later revealed conversations not shown in the video. Another employee, not the first one who greeted him, quietly told him to speak softly while grilling the meat. That employee reportedly said, “Don’t speak loudly. Please be quiet.” When the YouTuber asked why he couldn’t speak freely, the employee replied, “We can’t communicate with Koreans.” When the YouTuber asked, “Where is that written?” the reply was, “We are no longer one people, aren’t we?”

Also, when the YouTuber said, “It’s the first time I’ve heard the word ‘puppet,’ but isn’t that a bit much?” the employee laughed with a ‘pfft’ sound. The YouTuber said, “Honestly, it’s funny, right? The word ‘puppet’?” and the employee responded with a smile, shaking her head as if trying to hold back laughter. Still, she told him, “Talking with a South Korean like this is pleasant and enjoyable.”

‘Puppet’ is a derogatory term used in North Korea to disparage South Korea, implying that it is a country controlled by U.S. imperialism, figuratively referring to someone who acts according to others’ instigation. Netizens reacted with comments such as “She laughs herself after calling someone a puppet” and “Calling someone a puppet to their face.”

At the end of last year, North Korea’s Workers’ Party Central Committee defined inter-Korean relations as those between ‘hostile two states.’ North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un said, “Discussing unification because of the rhetorical expression of being the same people is not fitting for our national dignity and status,” and “We must no longer make the mistake of considering the other side as a partner for reconciliation and unification.” In his January speech at the Supreme People’s Assembly, he also stated, “The concepts of unification and being the same people must be removed from our national history.”

Accordingly, North Korea is implementing follow-up measures to reorganize its agencies related to South Korea and to delete the concepts of ‘unification’ and ‘nation.’ In the past, North Korea referred to South Korea as ‘Namjoson,’ but recently North Korean media such as Korean Central TV have been using terms like ‘puppet,’ ‘puppet South Korea,’ and even ‘Republic of Korea.’ This is presumed to reflect the recognition that South Korea is no longer a target for unification but rather a ‘hostile two-state’ entity.

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