Kim Jong Un's “Friendly Father” Song

About

Kim Jong Un's “Friendly Father” is a song praising North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un for being a "friendly father" and a "great leader," which was performed on April 17th, 2024, at a ceremony celebrating the opening of 10,000 new homes in the capital. The song sparked a series of ironic memes and parodies on TikTok following its performance, many calling the music a "banger" and comparing it to Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department album.

Origin

On April 17th, 2024, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shared footage^[1] of a ceremony celebrating the grand opening of a new 10,000-home development in the capital of North Korea, which featured the song "Friendly Father" (친근한 어버이) praising Kim Jong Un as the nation’s "father,” working to ensure a “brighter future” for the country’s people.

A music video for the "Friendly Father" song was aired on the state-controlled Korean Central Television on April 18th, and later on April 19th, the CNA YouTube^[2] channel uploaded the video (shown below), amassing over 187,000 views and 4,000 likes in four days.

On April 20th, 2024, TikTok^[3] user @thenewsmovement posted an English-subtitled version of the "Friendly Father" music video, which amassed more than 6 million plays and 422,000 likes in two days.

Let's sing Kim Jong Un, our leader
Let's love Kim Jong Un, a friendly father.
The people believe and will follow united,
A Friendly Father.

Spread

Shortly after the song was posted online, several ironic memes started to go viral on TikTok in which people pretended to like the song, calling it a "'banger." For example, on April 20th, 2024, TikTok^[4] user @a_bit_rebecca posted a video of herself with the overlay text "Kim Jong Un serving absolute c*nt with this state-sponsored hype song was not on my 2024 bingo card." The post (shown below, left) amassed more than 1.4 million plays and 182,000 likes in two days.

On April 21st, TikTok^[5] user @leftcentrics posted a Dramatic Crossroads meme featuring Kim Jong Un's "Friendly Father" song on the left and a picture of the K-Pop boyband BTS on the right. The post (shown below, right) received roughly 342,000 plays and 49,000 likes in a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References