South Korea has banned the viral North Korean propaganda music video "Friendly Father," which glorified Kim Jong Un by praising him as a "great leader." 

Seoul's Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) said in a statement Monday (May 20) that the music video and its 29 versions violated the country's National Security Act, which means that it would be blocked at the request of South Korea's National Intelligence Service. 

The law blocks access to the North's government-controlled websites and media and penalizes behaviors and speeches favoring the regime. 

The BBC mentioned that those violating the National Security Act could face a seven-year sentence. However, enforcement of such laws has recently eased. 

Reactions from South Koreans, Social Media

The Independent reported that the song first became a hit on TikTok when it was released in April and was initially performed live at a ceremony opening a new housing development project in Pyongyang. 

Some TikTok users said that they play it while working out at the gym or doing homework, while others were interested because of its nostalgic style, miming older Spanish or French pop music.

"Friendly Father" has also become a topic of interest in South Korea in the past few days. Some urged the government in Seoul to keep the video accessible so that people could "enjoy the joke" coming out of Pyongyang. 

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Glorifying the Kim Jong Un's Regime

The two Koreas have been in a constant state of war since 1950 since both have only signed an armistice but not a peace treaty. This meant that most of the non-disabled men on both sides had been conscripted to mandatory military service, including some members of the South Korean pop group BTS. 

The South Korean media regulator claimed that "Friendly Father" was a video "linked to psychological warfare" against the government in Seoul due to it being propagated on platforms connecting the Hermit Kingdom - as North Korea is colloquially called - to the outside world. 

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