Why do North Koreans sound like that?

Source: Why Do North Koreans Sound Like That?, Joe Seon, 17:26, uploaded 2026-10-22.

The common image of North Korean speech is a newsreader shouting with triumphant intensity. Joe Seon sets out to correct the most easily refuted version of that stereotype, the idea that North Koreans shout all the time or that the country has only one newsreader. He argues that the distinctive cadence of state media and singing is a set of deliberate styles, each matched to a kind of content, and the video divides that argument into speaking and singing.

Three kinds of news

The most famous viral clip of the so-called Pink Lady is not Ri Chun-hee, the senior newsreader usually meant by that name, but the much younger Jon Song-hui, who plays a different role in broadcasting. The two are often conflated. Seon explains that KCTV divides its news into three distinct styles: daily news, revolutionary news and press statements.

The daily news is read by a crew of younger journalists in smart suits. Their delivery is formal and motivational but restrained and matter-of-fact, much closer to newsreaders elsewhere in Asia than the viral clips suggest. Revolutionary news is a separate category. Instead of lectures, agriculture and production targets, it covers the activities of the leader, and this is where Ri Chun-hee comes in. She performs the news almost like a stage actor, which Seon connects to her early plan to become an actress. Her manner is excited rather than angry and always triumphant. A song called “The Times We Wait For” describes waiting eagerly in front of the television for these reports. They usually air the morning after a significant public appearance by Kim Jong-un and are repeated about five times through the day. Military parades, party congresses and concerts fall into this category, which explains why her voice is the one known abroad. The same style narrates revolutionary documentaries, which are distinguished from ordinary documentaries by their coverage of the leaders. These films hold one of the highest places in the state’s propaganda as audio-visual evidence of the leaders’ achievements and are meant to create an emotional, personal connection with them, so they receive the most intense narration.

Press statements sound dull by comparison, yet Seon says they carry the most venom. They address international as well as domestic audiences because they often concern foreign conflict and tension on the peninsula. Jon Song-hui usually reads Kim Yo-jong’s strongly worded statements, projecting condemnation of enemies and defiance against them. Seon calls these broadcasts verbal weapons. Because they attract the most foreign coverage, many people assume that all North Korean reporting sounds this way, when they are the exception.

Neutral programming and spoken word

KCTV’s neutral programming, such as wildlife documentaries and instructional films on science and engineering, uses a much softer tone. Seon quotes Kim Jong-il’s description of the Korean language as gentle, clear and elegant, a reflection of national character. In these broadcasts the language is at its most familiar and warm, and Seon finds it genuinely pleasant to listen to.

Spoken-word performances are another category. They are recited live before an audience as part of a concert, usually without a script, and sometimes surpass even the newsreaders in enthusiasm. Large symphonic pieces can be performed with no singing at all while the spoken words carry the performance. The language is vivid, visceral and bombastic in a way Seon finds ideologically revealing, since the speaker presents the state’s official framing of major events such as the overseas operation in Russia, the death of a leader or the Arduous March, often in graphic detail. Sentences rise into an overwhelmed head voice and sometimes end in tears, although at other times the speakers do roar into the microphone.

The Juche voice in song

What people usually mean by the “Juche voice” is a singing style. North Korean singers have an instantly recognisable sound that is taught deliberately, and Seon draws on Kim Jong-il’s On the Art of Music to describe it. Korean music, in that account, is distinguished from Western vocal music by its characteristic trill and vibrato. Notes are sustained with pronounced microtones, phrases expand and contract dramatically, and the resonance comes from the whole body rather than mainly from the head. Instead of gliding smoothly between notes, the voice vibrates and trills, which Seon traces to socialist opera and traditional Korean folk singing. Singers vary in how much of this they use, from fully embracing it to mixing it with Western operatic technique. Diction is always clear, with every syllable distinct, so that songs are easy to learn from memory even for someone who does not know Korean.

The clearest evidence that this is a learned style rather than a natural accent comes from hearing one singer across different kinds of music. Kim Ok-ju drops these techniques when she sings foreign songs: her voice becomes lighter and her vibrato more restrained. Because the style can be switched off, Seon concludes that it is intentional. Kim Jong-il framed singing as an aesthetic question as well as a technical one, and because his theory is taught to all North Korean artists, the vocal style became a sonic shorthand for national character. Accuracy is not the only aim. The listener should feel the conviction behind every line, so the voice works as ideological communication as well as a pleasant instrument, and the trembling emotion with which speakers talk about the leader carries over into song.

Ideological certainty, Seon stresses, does not mean loudness. Kim Jong-il also emphasises restraint where it is needed and the importance of beauty, since songs are meant to present ideal visions of society. That direction produced the calm, ethereal music of the Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble and many sentimental, contemplative and almost hymn-like songs alongside upbeat pop.

Collective sound

Many of these songs were made to be heard by crowds in public spaces. They were released when not everyone owned a radio or CD player, so music was played through loudspeakers, a practice that continues. The state also trains propaganda squads, troupes of singers who perform at workplaces to motivate workers. Together these produce a soundscape in which music is never far away.

The collective approach culminates in the pangchang, the term used for backing singers. Usually in the final verse, a choir at the side of the stage reinforces the soloist and represents the voice of the masses, which keeps a solo number from becoming too individualistic. The result is the dreamlike quality of music that seems to echo back at the listener, although the pangchang is often a subtle part of a song’s texture rather than an epic effect. Kim Jong-il also denounced singing that is harsh, shrill or piercing and revised older folk traditions to remove tones he found grating. Seon distinguishes the older trot style from Korea’s enlightenment period, still used in the South and almost never performed in the North, from the neo-folk style revised under Kim Jong-il, which evens out and softens the tones, as explained by Professor Kim Chol Ok. Seon concludes that, in Korea, temperance is often preferred over excess. He notes a recent tendency towards stronger, louder tones, especially in the national anthem, but treats it like the news: the voice adapts to the content and the occasion.

Many voices

Shared traditions do not make all singers sound alike. Ensembles are often formed around the singers’ vocal differences. The members of the Moranbong Band dress similarly, but Kim So-mi has the highest register, close to folk and opera, while Ryu Jin-a’s smoky voice suits serious ballads in a minor key. Other ensembles range from deep contralto to the exceptionally high soprano of Jong Hye-yong. Seon uses “the Juche voice” only as shorthand. There are many Juche voices, each distinct and suited to a purpose, while most people abroad know only one. Everyday civilian speech differs again from state media, a subject he leaves for another video.

References

• Kim Jong-il, On the Art of Music.
• “The Cradle of Juche Music and Arts Talent: Kim Won Gyun University of Music.”