The recent upbeat BIGBANG hit, “Bang, Bang, Bang” (뱅뱅뱅), was on the playlist when South Korea restarted propaganda broadcasts into the North – amongst others.
As North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un celebrated his birthday, giant banks of loudspeakers blasted the musical serenade across the border, together with messages criticising Kim’s regime and extolling the virtues of democracy.
The broadcasts, which have infuriated Pyongyang in the past, were resumed in response to the North’s latest nuclear test on Wednesday (6th January 2016). The speakers are currently set up at 11 different locations along the border and each broadcastings will last 3 – 4 hours several times a day at random times.
“We have selected a diverse range of the most recent popular hits to make it interesting,” a defence ministry official said in a briefing for local reporters on Friday (8th January 2016).
The songs and lyrics covered an eclectic range of styles and subjects, with contributions from the likes of A-list boy band BIGBANG and the girl band GFriend.
BIGBANG’s slightly raunchy dance hit with its “Like you’ve been shot/Bang Bang Bang” chorus, contrasted with the more plaintive tone of GFriend’s offering – sample lyric: “We’re both so shy/But I wanna go closer to you.”
The ministry gave no indication that the songs had been chosen with the intention of sending any underlying message to the North.
Hmm, we wonder what BIGBANG thinks of all this though!
Sources: AFP via Yahoo! News, akp / Featured image from akp.
