A song that praises North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has gone viral on TikTok. 

“Let’s sing Kim Jong Un, the great leader,” the song called “Friendly Father” says, according to BBC News. “Let’s brag about Kim Jong Un, our friendly father.”

“Is this a single or where can I get the whole album,” one TikToker joked. Another said, “It’s so dystopian in the catchiest way.”

“I don’t really like Kim Jong Un but he was really cooking on this song,” another said.

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South Korean pop, or K-pop, and Western music are banned inside North Korea, and some defectors have cited illegally listening to outside music as a factor in their decision to defect. 

“When you listen to North Korean music, you have no emotions,” North Korean defector Ryu Hee-Jin told The Washington Post in 2019. “But when you listen to American or South Korean music, it literally gives you the chills. The lyrics are so fresh, so relatable. When kids listen to this music, their facial expressions just change.” 

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Of “Friendly Father,” Peter Moody, a North Korea expert at Korea University, told BBC News, “The song has Abba written all over it.  It’s upbeat, it could not be more catchy and a rich set of orchestral-sounding sequences could not be more prominent.” 

Some North Korean defectors have cited listening to K-pop music like the group BTS as helping them decide to defect.  (Han Myung-Gu/WireImage)

Alexandra Leonzini of Cambridge University told the outlet North Korean authorities would have sought to make an “earworm” song with simple lyrics that’s easy to sing.

“All artistic output in North Korea must serve the class education of citizens and more specifically educate them as to why they should feel a sense of gratitude, a sense of loyalty to the party,” she said. 

Defectors have said the government plays propaganda songs every morning throughout the country, citizens are taught choreographed dances to the songs and the lyrics are printed in newspapers. (KCNA via REUTERS)

Defectors have said the government plays propaganda songs every morning throughout the country, citizens are taught choreographed dances to the songs and the lyrics are printed in newspapers.

“By the time the song has sort of been taken into the body, it’s become part of the person,” Keith Howard, a professor at the London School of African and Oriental Studies, said. “So, they know the lyrics so well, even if they’re just doing the actions, even if they’re just listening to it. A good ideological song does that. It needs to embed the message.”

The spat began when Spain’s transport minister said Argentina’s Javier Milei took drugs during last year’s election.

Spain and Argentina have their diplomatic daggers drawn and have traded jibes over drug use and economic decline.

The spat began on Friday when Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente, during a panel discussion in Salamanca, suggested that Argentina’s President Javier Milei had ingested “substances” during last year’s election campaign.

“I saw Milei on television” during the campaign, Puente told a Socialist Party conference.

“I don’t know if it was before or after the consumption … of substances.”

He also listed Milei among some “very bad people” who have reached high office.

Milei’s office responded on Saturday in a statement condemning the remarks and also attacking Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

The statement accused Sanchez of “endangering Spanish women by allowing illegal immigration” and undermining Spain’s integrity by making deals with separatists, while his left-wing policies brought “death and poverty”.

pic.twitter.com/eg2lXgc0cL

— Oficina del Presidente (@OPRArgentina) May 3, 2024

Spain reacted with fury.

“The Spanish government categorically rejects the unfounded words … which do not reflect the relations between the two countries and their fraternal people,” the Spanish foreign ministry said.

“The government and the Spanish people will continue to maintain and strengthen their fraternal links and their relations of friendship and collaboration with the Argentine people, a desire shared by all of Spanish society,” the statement added.

The spat comes two weeks before a visit to Spain by Argentina’s “anarcho-capitalist” president.

Milei will attend an event of the far-right Vox party and will be avoiding meeting Spain’s socialist head of government, Sanchez.

The two have never had good relations.

Sanchez supported Milei’s rival Sergio Massa in the election that brought Milei to power in December and has also not contacted Milei since the victory.

Milei has meanwhile publicly supported Spain’s far-right anti-immigration Vox party. Vox leader Santiago Abascal also went to Buenos Aires for Milei’s investiture.

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