North Korean Anthem Played at the 70th Anniversary of Korean War Commemoration in South Korea

2020-6-30, Tara O

At the 70th Anniversary of the Korean War commemoration event in South Korea, the North Korean anthem was played prior to the South Korean national anthem.  The annual event, which is usually held during the day, was held late at night for the first time on June 25, 2020, with Korean War veterans and foreign guests.  The U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accountability Agency (DPAA) sent the remains of 147 Republic of Korea (ROK) soldiers who died during the Korean War; the remains were initially returned from North Korea.  South Korean president Moon Jae-in, after skipping the event for the first three years of his presidency, attended the commemoration event for the first time.

A voice announced the singing of the national anthem by the National Chorus and the Ministry of National Defense Chorus.  The announcer stated, “Next will be the singing of the national anthem…It’s a new rendition using wind instruments and organ.”  The KBS orchestra, South Korea’s premier, publicly-funded orchestra, then played the first eight notes of North Korea’s anthem and repeated the portion three times.  It was a “new rendition,” as the announcer stated, but it was the South Korean national anthem preceded by the beginning section of the North Korean anthem.  Click the video below or the following link to hear it:

Source:  https://youtu.be/onc_9lqozW8

Netizens’ Comments:

• The national anthem is the national anthem.  Why did they rearrange!!?  And using the North Korean anthem at that…One by one, one by one…Surreptitiously one verse at a time, one part at a time…Without us knowing…Do you think that we are stupid?  Without an excuse, inserting it furtively to brainwash us. What should we do from now on?  Such is control!
• They’re really crazy. Now they’re revealing their identity openly.  How can they do this unless they think they now have everything under their thumbs.  So that’s why they held the event quietly [without much public notice] at night, like a thief.  You must catch the thief! Are you ready to catch them?
• Someone who calls himself a president is doing this. It’s dumbfounding. He just loves North Korea so much.  Just astonishing.
• [We’ve seen enough] By now, we should know that Moon Jae-in has plans and he is not stupid.  Scary.  Brainwashing a little bit at a time.
• Is this my country?  Unbelievable.  Where did the Republic of Korea go?  Democratic People’s Republic of South Korea?

North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950, starting the Korean War.  Playing the North Korean anthem, especially on the anniversary of the Korean War, gravely dishonors and disrespects the Korean War veterans, who risked and sacrificed their lives to give freedom to South Koreans.  The Moon administration needs to explain to the public and the UN Sending States how the North Korean anthem became part of the program.

Furthermore, it is difficult to overlook the symbolism of this performance when Moon has expressed his strong desire to achieve low-level federation or loose form of federation (낮은 단계 연방제), which is North Korea’s long sought formula to unify the Korean Peninsula under North Korean rule.  On August 18, 2012, then-presidential candidate Moon Jae-in swore, “I will achieve without fail the confederation or low-level/loose form of federation that former president Kim Dae-jung dreamt about…through a government power change.”  

On January 22, 2017, Moon, again as a presidential candidate, said, “I promised during the last presidential campaign that, even if I have to revise the constitution, I will make a federation-equivalent decentralized republic and institute a strong policy of balanced national development.”

Paragraph 2 of the June 15, 2000 South-North Joint Declaration signed by Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong-il states:

“For the achievement of reunification, we have agreed that there is a common element in the South’s concept of a confederation and the North’s formula for a loose form of federation. The South and the North agreed to promote reunification in that direction.”

It is astounding that the North Korean anthem was played at all.  The symbolism of playing the North Korean anthem as a prelude to the South Korean anthem appears to indicate the beginning of the merger of South Korea and North Korea, with North Korea in the lead.