How North Korea's brainwashing plans are being foiled by Queen Elsa: Children are taught to hate the U.S. from kindergarten - but secretly they love pop music and Frozen

Daily Mail, UK/October 18, 2015

By Jenny Awford

Young children in North Korea are being brainwashed to ensure they will support ruler Kim Jong-un, according to an Australian man who has done extensive research in the secretive country.

University of Sydney doctoral student Christopher Richardson said children are taught to hate the USA, Japan and South Korea and worship the leader as soon as they reach kindergarten.

The PhD candidate's thesis explores how the state monopolises education and children's culture, even controlling the songs, films and games that they can listen to and enjoy.

But he also argued that the North Korea's Workers' Party's influence may be waning as he said that many young children have started illegally watching Disney films - including Frozen.

'From the moment children are born, the first words they are taught are words in worship of the Kim family,' Mr Richardson said.

'From the time they are in kindergarten they are taught to hate the United States, Japan, and South Korea, and they are taught to love the leaders. 

'Childhood is perceived as a time to create revolutionary consciousness, national cohesion, ideological purity and reverence for Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, and Kim Jong Un.

'The state knows that its future depends on the young, so they are trying to win over the hearts and minds of children.'

He has examined more than 70 North Korean children's book and said it was 'extraordinary' that some of the leaders were credited as having written some of the fairy stories and fables.

Kim Jong-il, the current supreme leader's father, is credited with writing 'Boys Wipe Out Bandits,' a story about the 'redemptive power of ultra-violence'.

And Kim Il-sung, founder of the dynasty, is listed as the author of an anti-American fable called 'The Butterfly and the Cock'.

'In between trying to develop the world's largest army and create a nuclear program, I think it's extraordinary that the leaders have taken time out to oversee the writing of children's books.

'Of course a ghost writer is likely to have actually penned the books. But just image if David Cameron or Malcolm Turnbull were credited with writing children's books.'

He said that in stark contrast to the West which has a cultural free market, the state controls book publishing in North Korea.

'There is a very small number of state owners publishers and all authors are state appointed. The idea of a celebrity author writing a book is unheard of.'

The young are encouraged to join the North Korean Children's Union - which is the country's version of the Hitler Youth, according to Mr Richardson.

They are brainwashed with state ideology and taught that they should be prepared to risk their own life to save the supreme leader.

But despite the nation's oppression of free speech and thought, Mr Richardson argued that aspects of the western world were becoming more prevalent in North Korea.

'More and more children have started listening to pop music and watching Disney movies like Frozen. They are also tuning into South Korean soap operas.

'It is all happening behind closed doors. The problem is that is it just so seductive and the state is not sure how to deal with it.

'People are commenting on how in North Korean girl's skirts are getting shorter and children are walking around with Mickey Mouse backpacks in the capital.'

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