A new North Korean propaganda video targeting Chinese viewers prominently features a South Korean pop song, according to NK News analysis, despite the DPRK’s harsh laws on consuming foreign media.

The instrumental version of the 2003 song “Moon & Sunrise” by K-pop star BoA plays at the end of the new video, which the DPRK-linked “Take Me to Koryo” uploaded on China’s Weibo social media platform on March 31.

The well-known North Korean propaganda vlogger Un A guides viewers on a one-day tour of Pyongyang in the video that’s racked up some 75,000 views as of Wednesday. BoA’s melodic R&B track, which was first released with lyrics on the so-called Queen of K-pop’s second Japanese-language album, plays in the background as Un A and her fellow sightseers ride on a bus back home.

The song “Moon & Sunrise” by K-pop star BoA plays in the background during a North Korean propaganda video featuring the vlogger Un A | Video: “Take Me to Koryo” Weibo account (March 31, 2023)

Previous NK News investigations found that the “Take Me to Koryo” account is likely run by North Korea’s Sogwang Media Corporation, which is connected to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) and appears to be behind a yearslong foreign outreach campaign that has also extended to Twitter and YouTube.

The use of the K-pop track in the latest video comes despite North Korea’s 2020 Law on Rejecting Reactionary Ideology and Culture, which mandates lengthy labor and prison sentences for sharing foreign content, particularly from South Korea.

North Korean defectors have testified that South Korean music, television dramas and films are popular in the DPRK but must be enjoyed in secret. The law, the full text of which was only revealed last month, thus appears to be part of the government’s efforts to maintain ideological control over the population.

The decision to feature BoA’s song in the video may be an attempt to appeal to a Chinese audience. China has long been an important market for South Korean entertainment, though Beijing has increasingly sought to reign in the fandom around K-pop and K-dramas.

Un A was North Korea’s first English-speaking vlogger, debuting in 2019 through a YouTube channel called “Echo of Truth.” 

The vlogger has presented herself as an “ordinary girl” and purported to show “ordinary” life in the DPRK, seeking to combat “delusive information” about the country, but NK News investigations determined that the channel worked with Sogwang Media Corporation.

YouTube banned her channel in 2020, stating that its content went against community guidelines. Un A then disappeared for two years before resurfacing early this year in videos on the “Take Me to Koryo” account, this time speaking Mandarin Chinese.

BoA’s label SM Entertainment did not immediately respond to NK News questions about whether it had granted permission to use the song or whether the agency intends to take legal action against unlicensed usage of its content. 

Jeongmin Kim contributed reporting to this story. Edited by Bryan Betts.