Kim Jong Un recently shocked North Korean flood victims when he addressed them in a speech that contained words and phrases commonly used by South Koreans – terms that would get ordinary citizens in hot water, residents told Radio Free Asia.
Authorities regularly punish users of South Korean lingo because it suggests that they learned to speak that way from watching illegal South Korean movies and TV shows – considered "anti-socialist" and a bad capitalist influence – that have been smuggled into the country.
In the most serious cases, people can get sent to work in coal mines or prison camps for merely texting using South Korean slang or using terms of endearment that would be more common in Seoul than in Pyongyang.
While Kim did not use slang or cutesy words that South Korean couples call each other, experts said that the South Korean terms he used suggest that he might be watching the banned South Korean movies and TV shows that his people get punished for.
Since adopting the Anti-reactionary Thought and Culture Act in 2020, which seeks to eradicate “hostile” foreign and capitalistic influences on North Korean culture, authorities essentially made it illegal to speak “like a South Korean.”
In January 2023, North Korea codified this by passing the Pyongyang Cultural Language Protection act, which defines the Pyongyang dialect of Korean as the standard language, and prohibits the use of so-called “puppet words” that “completely lost the foundation of the Korean language due to Westernization, Japanification, and Chinese characterization.”
Now North Koreans have to be ultra-conscious not to let any Southern lingo slip out when they talk in public, or they could be sentenced to six years of hard labor, life-long hard labor, or even death, depending on how serious their offense.
But the laws apparently do not apply to Kim Jong Un. Earlier this month, while speaking to victims of the recent Yalu River flood, he called them his fellow "citizens" instead of "comrades," as communist parlance would dictate, a resident of the northwestern province of North Pyongan told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
He also referred to older flood victims as “elders” rather than “seniors” or “respected grandparents,” and abbreviated “television” to the more American-sounding “TV” as is common in the South, rather than “terebi,” which is more common in the North.
He also told the victims that they were “navigating rough terrain” rather than the more Northern expression of being in a “difficult and tiring situation.”
“People were more surprised by the way Kim Jong Un used South Korean words in his speech than by the content of the speech itself,” the resident said.
Linguistic divide
The divergence in the varieties of Korean spoken in the North and the South are more than just regional differences–the division of the Korean peninsula after World War II had sweeping linguistic consequences.
Differing standardization policies enacted by both governments have resulted in spelling and vocabulary differences, with closed off North Korea more hesitant to adopt loan words from foreign languages than the more open South.
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Kim's Southern-vocabulary laden speech was played several times a day on state television along with reports that showed him apparently leading rescue efforts while the flood was still raging.
In the speech, Kim also used more Southern sounding terms for “medical patient,” referred to drinks as “beverages,” rather than the more Northern term which refers to all drinks simply as “water,” and several other examples, according to the resident.
“If someone else had written a speech like this, would they have been able to use such words without Kim Jong Un’s approval?” he said. “It is unreasonable to tell the people to talk like a Pyongyanger while he himself speaks like a South Korean so openly.”
‘Unusual and puzzling’
Several U.S.-based experts found Kim’s use of Southern-style speech to be perplexing given that North Korea has been so adamantly punishing people for doing the same.
“We've seen reporting about severe punishment, even death sentences for people listening or watching to South Korean media or even using South Korean terminology … sometimes even generations of a family being punished for the transgression of an individual even just watching South Korean media and numerous reports that that has led to (people) being executed,” said Bruce Klingner of the Washington-based Heritage Foundation think tank.
He said that it meant that Kim Jong Un must be either watching South Korean media himself, or learning those words from people in his entourage.
“(That) would be quite unusual because one would think any North Korean official using South Korean phrases may himself be punished regardless of his rank,” Klingner said.
On the other hand, the use of South Korean vocabulary might have been a signal that Kim wants to accept South Korean help to rebuild after the storm, said Robert R. King, the former special envoy for North Korean human rights issues at the U.S. Department of State.
“When you run the country, the way he does, he can do anything he wants to,” said King. “I would assume that even though (the speech) … was primarily focused internally in North Korea, he knows that the South Koreans very carefully monitor what's going on.”
Purposefully informal
A resident from the northern province of Ryanggang, who was in the audience when Kim was speaking, told RFA that it was much less formal than other events involving Kim Jong Un.
“Considering that the participants were not there to take part in an event but were flood victims who had lost their homes and property, they did not make them sit in rows neatly but had them sit naturally,” he said. “It seems that this was all done to create a more natural on-site filming.”
He commented that the speech was delivered from Kim Jong Un’s luxury train that he used to travel to the flood-stricken region. One of the train cars could transform into a stage, and the residents could get a good look at how the North Korean leader gets around.
“The luxury of the train Kim Jong Un rides is amazing,” the Ryanggang resident said. “One side of the train’s wall was opened wide to reveal a carpeted podium, and the national flag was raised next to it.”
Additionally he said that some of the victims that attended the speech were actually government plants.
“In the press photos and videos, all the people with bright faces, whose skin is not tanned and whose bones are not bulging, are the county officials from the Supreme Guard Command,” he said, referring to the military unit tasked with protecting Kim and members of his family.
To the Ryanggang resident, it seemed like the whole event was meant to boost the leader’s image.
“It seems like he is trying to change people’s minds because public sentiment has gotten so bad, but he seems to be in a hurry (to leave),” he said.
Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.