Korea Herald
7/12/2007
North Korea has ordered the closure of karaoke bars in an apparent attempt to stem outside influences on the isolated communist country, AP reported, quoting a South Korean civic group as saying Wednesday.
Separately, the North’s Ministry of People’s Security conducted house-to-house overnight inspections in areas near the border with China earlier this month to search for cell phones and illegal video CDs, the Good Friends aid agency said in a newsletter, according to the report.
It reported that the ministry said in a directive last week that the move against karaoke outlets was a ”mopping-up operation to prevent the ideological and cultural permeation of anti-socialism,” according to the aid group.
Violators were warned they would face punishment, including deportation to other regions within North Korea.
The group did not say how it obtained the information. Its previous reports on the North’s isolated regime have been reliable.
It was not clear how many karaoke bars the country has.
AP said officials at South Korea’s top spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, were not immediately available for comment.
