Invasion of the videotapes: South Korean films sparking quiet cultural revolution in the North
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 Free Headline Alerts
SEOUL — Recent North Korean defectors in China report that Pyongyang authorities blame South Korean movies and television serial dramas for the exploding number of married couples wanting to divorce in North Korea.
Defectors said that during the past several months, party members delivered passionate speeches in town meetings denouncing South Korean videos that "contaminate citizens of the Republic" who watch what they called garbage.
The lectures were especially directed against increasing trends of divorce, men taking wives younger than their daughters, prostitution and other "capitalistic toxins that degrade the socialistic value system."
Ever since trade increased in North Korea-China border cities, South Korean videotapes have been smuggled into the North where they apparently captivate women in similar ways that they do in Southeast Asia and elsewhere. “Watching the dramas from South Korea, North Koreans were enlightened about modern ways of life with a speed that no ideological propaganda could match,” said one woman from North Pyongan Province.
She said that North Korean women have become aware of how much more advanced South Korea is. She said they were so fascinated by South Korean men speaking softly to their women and treating them gently that they began to revolt against their chauvinistic husbands.
“You know what shocked us most in the drama?” the woman asked. “We saw that South Korean women sometimes slap their men when they were angry. This really opened our eyes. We realized that we work like slaves and are treated like slaves by our men, who are useless.”
Pyongyang has enacted a law geared to discouraging divorce in North Korea.
The new law, which recently became effective, stipulates that couples desiring to divorce must pay a fine of half a million Won, according to sources familiar with North Korean issues. The amount is a fortune in that society, where the average monthly income is less than 3,000 Won.
As a result, most unhappy couples give up on the idea of separation. If a husband still wants to divorce without paying the fine, he is liable to perform six months of hard labor.
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