North Korea Clamps Down on Youth Ideology in Bid to Maintain Regime

North Korea, under Kim Jong Un, is intensifying its efforts to control young people, seeking to prevent them from defecting from the regime. This includes blocking the influx of foreign culture and strengthening systematic ideological education. The Kim Jong Un regime is expanding education and surveillance to control youth thought.

North Korean authorities view the circulation of foreign cultural content, such as South Korean dramas, movies, and music, among young people as a threat and are prohibiting it. North Korea has strengthened border controls to block the influx of outside culture. In particular, residents who watch or distribute South Korean videos are being sentenced to heavy penalties. For example, in the past, North Korean residents who watched South Korean dramas were sentenced to forced labor, and recently, the level of punishment has been further strengthened, with some being sent to political prison camps.

The Kim Jong Un regime promised economic support to young people, but the economic crisis caused by sanctions and the COVID-19 pandemic has widened the gap between youth expectations and reality. The deepening economic difficulties are amplifying discontent among young people, which is a potential risk factor that could lead to defection from the regime.

To quell this discontent, North Korean authorities are further strengthening ideological education and tightening control over young people's daily lives. Young people must participate in regular ideological education and prove their loyalty to the party. In addition, North Korean authorities control young people's social activities and restrict their personal freedom. Young people cannot travel without the party's approval, and private gatherings are prohibited. Critics point out that these controls further deepen the discontent of young people and can provoke antipathy towards the regime.

The South Korean government is closely monitoring North Korea's youth control situation and plans to cooperate with the international community to protect the human rights of North Korean residents. The government said it would work to improve the human rights situation in North Korea.

Experts analyze that North Korea's intensified youth control will have little practical effect on maintaining the regime. It is impossible to completely block the inflow of external information, and the discontent of young people could intensify further. According to North Korean internal sources, "Recently, longing for Korean culture is growing even more among the younger generation in North Korea, and resistance to the authorities' control is also strengthening."

North Korea is implementing various policies to quell the discontent of young people and maintain the regime, but it is widely expected that youth control will be difficult to succeed without resolving the fundamental problems of economic hardship and the influx of external information. The actual impact of the North Korean authorities' youth control policy on maintaining the regime in the long term is not clear at this time.