A song from North Korea, glorifying Kim Jong Un as a hero, has unexpectedly become a hit among Generation Z TikTok users, who are calling it a pop sensation. The track, named “Friendly Father,” extols Kim with lyrics that compare his warmth to that of a mother and his kindness to that of a father.
One part of the video shows Kim embracing and kissing a child on the cheek. Another scene depicts him being warmly greeted by a crowd of women, while other segments feature cheerful military personnel and bus passengers of various ages singing along.
The video has amassed millions of views, including significant attention from Gen-Z viewers who are largely unaware of the song’s underlying message of adulation toward a leader who has threatened severe actions against the United States and South Korea.
The song reflects a shift in North Korean cultural narratives
Users on the internet described the song as “ABBA-coded” as reported by the BBC. This has helped the track reach levels of virality typically expected from a hit by somebody like Taylor Swift, not propaganda machinery.
“Taylor Swift was not expecting to get blown out of the water right after dropping her new album,” one online user said, while another joked the song “needs a Grammy.”
Alexandra Leonzini, a scholar at Cambridge University specializing in North Korean music, explained to the BBC that such propaganda songs typically lack genuine emotional content. “The idea is they want to motivate, to strive towards a common goal for the benefit of the nation… they don’t tend to produce songs like ballads,” she noted.
Furthermore, the song reflects a shift in North Korean cultural narratives, referring to Kim with reverent terms like “father” and “the Great,” titles previously reserved for the country’s founding leader, Kim Il Sung, who was Kim Jong Un’s grandfather.