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North Korean girl group Moranbong Band

The Moranbong Band [wiki], also known as Moran Hill Orchestra, is an all-female music group in North Korea whose members were selected by the country’s supreme leader Kim Jong-un. Debuted in 2012, they are the first female band from DPRK.

The group, which is said to be hugely popular in their homeland, made headlines earlier this month when their show in Beijing was cancelled last-minute, with rumours of possible defection (which has been officially debunked).

There are suggestions that the creation of the group is to counteract the rise of South Korean pop culture in North Korea. Some foreign media actually branded Moranbong Band as North Korean version of South Korean pop group Girls’ Generation, but it’s probably in terms of popularity instead of musical style.

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Korea to ban young celebs in alcohol ads

South Korea has passed a bill to restrict people who are younger than 25-years-old from appearing in advertisements for alcoholic beverages.

The bill was proposed when figure skating star Kim Yu-na advertised for a beer in 2012, which created debates on how popular idols could influence young people into drinking, which is becoming a huge concern in Korea.

Koreans do drink a lot. Surprisingly they are not even in the top 20 when it comes to alcohol consumption per capita (data by OECD and WHO)… either the stats are crooked or those countries on top are in serious shit.

The biggest name affected by the news is popular singer IU who’s 21. There used to be more young idols involved (in alcohol commercials) but seems like most beverage companies are self-restraining in this matter for the past couple of years.

Not sure how much this bill could help regardless. Drinking culture in Korea is deeply rooted, youngsters have way too many channels (when they grow up, if not sooner) to get into the habit beside celebrity endorsements.