Former Rare Staff
Kim Jong-un is reportedly cracking down on fun in North Korea, banning his people from “drinking, singing and other entertainment,” seemingly related to crackdowns on the military for an “impure attitude toward the party leadership.”
Videos by Rare
RELATED: Kellyanne Conway responds to Trump’s “short and fat” tweet
South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, quoting the National Intelligence Service (NIS), reported Monday that the North Korean government has banned drinking and singing, while also investigating the military.
“[Pyongyang] has devised a system whereby party organs report people’s economic hardships on a daily basis, and it has banned any gatherings related to drinking, singing and other entertainment and is strengthening control of outside information,” the NIS said, according the news agency.
Related to this, an inspection of the military politburo has taken place. It was “the first time in 20 years” this has happened in North Korea, Reuters reported, and it’s happening to purge an “impure attitude.”
South Korea announced a week ago that an unnamed soldier defecting from the North was rescued and taken to a hospital after he was found shot in the shoulder and elbow in the border village of Panmunjom.
They said the North Korean guard abandoned his post and tried to escape. CNN noted that this is third defection of a North Korean soldier this year and that there had only been four such defections in the past five years.
South Korean officials added that the soldier was in such a bad spot they needed to crawl to save him.
In the latest U.S.-North Korea news, President Trump on Monday designated North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism. Previously, Trump joked that he would never call Kim Jong-un “short and fat” in response to being called an “old lunatic.”
“Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me ‘old,’ when I would NEVER call him ‘short and fat?’ Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend – and maybe someday that will happen!” he said.
Trump says he has also ushered in a new era of North Korea policy.
“The era of strategic patience is over,” Trump said in regards to his position on North Korea. “Some people said that my rhetoric is very strong, but look what’s happened with very weak rhetoric over the last 25 years. Look where we are now.”
Trump has mentioned U.S. North Korea policy in the time frame of the last 25 years before and said that, unlike his predecessors, he “won’t fail.”
RELATED: President Trump declares North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism
“Being nice to Rocket Man hasn’t worked in 25 years, why would it work now? Clinton failed, Bush failed, and Obama failed. I won’t fail,” Trump tweeted.
