It appears that BTS and Red Velvet have taken over the hearts of North Koreans.

On July 12, North Korean defector and broadcasting jockey (BJ) Han Song Yi was a guest on MBC FM4U’s “Ji Suk Jin’s 2 O’Clock Date,” where she talked about the popularity of the two groups in North Korea.

She began by saying, “A broker friend of mine in China says that BTS is really popular in North Korea.” She shared, “They don’t call them Bulletproof Boys (literal translation of BTS’s full name), but rather Bulletproof Backpacks. They ask people, ‘Have you tried on the bulletproof backpacks?’ which is code for saying that they’ve heard BTS’s songs.” She explained, “There are a lot of squads that control Hallyu-related things nowadays, so they have to use codes like this.”

Han Song Yi continued, “They asked me what kinds of songs were in BTS’s new album, and so I told them I liked ‘Fire’ the best. But they had already seen it, so I was surprised.”

DJ Ji Suk Jin then asked, “Didn’t Red Velvet recently go to North Korea to perform?” Han Song Yi answered, “Yes, they did. They’re famous.” She laughed and added, “However, North Koreans didn’t know what ‘Red Flavor’ meant, so I told them it’s the taste of strawberry jam.”

She also mentioned, “I recently spoke with a friend in North Korea, and she asked me what the exchange rate was. I think because the North-South Korean summit and the North American-Korean summit went well, so it means that the economy will become better.”

Source (1) (2)