The world has entered a new era of hybrid warfare. It is a mix of kinetic military actions with elements of psychological operations (PsyOps), propaganda, disinformation and misinformation (fake news), cyber-attacks, and other hostile activities. It is hard to find a better example of PsyOps victories than the recent case of the K-Pop defector.
“Loudspeakers broadcasting South Korean pop music, including girl group singing, likely led to his decision to defect.”
A North Korean soldier was shot several times in the back when he raced through a border checkpoint and ran across Joint Security Area (JSA) in the village of Panmunjom into South Korea earlier this month. South Korean soldiers found him unconscious in a pile of leaves behind a retaining wall and brought him to a hospital. When he regained consciousness yesterday, he wanted to be sure he was in South Korea, so the first thing he requested was to hear a South Korean song. “Anyone near the border can hear loudspeakers broadcasting South Korean pop music, including girl group singing,” according to government sources quoted in South Korean daily Dong-a Ilbo. “This likely led to his decision to defect.”
K-Pop Defector
K-Pop, or Korean pop music, is famous for its heavily produced, highly choreographed, productions featuring girl bands and boy bands. The soldier is estimated to be in his early 20s, well within the age range to which K-Pop appeals. Yonhap News Agency reports that some media have reported that he said he is 25 and his name is Oh, although government sources say they have yet to establish his actual identity.
Mr. Oh also asked to watch television. “The soldier has regained consciousness and he requested to watch television,” the government official said on condition of anonymity. “For the soldier’s psychological comfort, we’ve shown the patient South Korean movies and he has recovered enough to watch television.”
Oh’s desire for South Korean pop culture may be deplored by patrons of the fine arts, but it was a great advertisement for the benefits of a free society. It follows the pattern of American efforts to undermine the communist regimes of the Soviet Union, China, and their client states during the Cold War. Voice of America, Radio Liberty, Radio Free Europe and their sibling services around the world used broadcasts of jazz music to reach people in captive nations. As a Foreign Service Officer during and after the Cold War, I met many individuals who said their love for jazz brought them to the radio, and the truth told in the hourly newscasts kept them attached to reality.
Parasite Infestation
South Korea scored another public opinion victory by simply telling the truth about the soldier’s state of health. Oh’s wounds were significant – several internal organs were damaged, and he also was hit in the arm and elbow – but they were complicated by a severe infestation of parasites. The final step in a series of operations was to remove a bullet that had lodged in the wall of his stomach.
Lee Cook-jong, the doctor who treated him, told Korea Biomedical Review, “We are struggling with treatment as we found a large number of parasites in the soldier’s stomach, invading and eating into the wounded areas,” Lee said. “We have also discovered a parasite never seen in Koreans before. It is making the situation worse and causing tremendous complications.”
The message was clear: we have never seen this in Koreans before. That is, North Korea is such a primitive society that they cannot keep their people healthy. Knowing that a picture is worth a thousand words, Korea provided photos of the parasites hanging on to the organs of the soldier.
And parasite infestation is not limited to Mr. Oh. “I don’t know what is happening in North Korea, but I found many parasites when examining other defectors,” said Professor Seo Min at the Dankook University Medical School. “In one case, we found 30 types of roundworms in a female defector.” The most effective counterweight to the false messages of North Korean propaganda is to tell the truth – with pictures.
Because of the dramatic nature of his defection, Mr. Oh has achieved global notoriety. Because of the innocent nature of his first requests, he is likely to achieve popularity as well. Expect to see more of him within a few years, as he becomes integrated in South Korea and experiences a free society. This is how free societies combat communist attacks on truth.
