Death penalty for saying “oppa”? North Korea reinforces the law to lock the “antisocialist culture”

North Korea reinforced its law on controlling foreign cultural influences, increasing the severity of criminal punishment against the spread of “antisocialist culture”, to the point of imposing the death penalty.

According to the information, the information was advanced this Friday by the Ministry of Justice, which recently analyzed the North Korea Criminal Law.

The country widened the scope of the death penalty to special criminal laws related to drug crimes, reactionary ideology and culture, including South Korea – nicknamed Hallyu or Korean wave.

According to the South Korean newspaper, the recent revision of North Korea comes from the fact that the country consider The influence of South Korean cultureas the popular use of the term “oppa”, As a possible threat to the regime.

“Oppa”It is originally a term used by South Korean women when they go to a older male brotherbut began to be used popularly in reference to An older man that belongs to the same community or to a romantic partner.

Although North Korea restricts the use of “oppa”To its original use, an increasing number of North Koreans, between 20 and 30 yearsstarted to use “oppa”In the South Korean wayaccording to the Ministry of Justice.

The explanation was part of the government’s comments on North Korea Penal Law reviews in December 2023, which analyzed all 329 articles of the legislation.

While increasing the number of criminal offenses subject to death penalty 11 to 16North Korea eliminates articles that previously included references to national reunification to reflect the altered nature of intercorean relations as “Two hostile states.”

According to the Ministry of Justice, additional provisions were introduced to reinforce the Protection of national symbolsthrough the creation of a new crime for damage or the national emblem.

The magazine criminal law includes articles that also reflect the sanction imposed by the international community.

“We hope the analysis will serve base for future investigationswhose objective is to effectively address the integration of South Korea’s legal systems and North Korea. The ministry will continue to make efforts to prepare the unification of legal and institutional staff on the Korea Peninsula, ”said the ministry.

The ministry stated that it not only presented explanations about the legal elements outlined in each article of the North Korean criminal law, but also elaborated comparative legal studies With the criminal laws of South Korea, Russia, China and Vietname.