North Korea bans sarcasm after people praise leader Kim Jong-un ‘ironically’

North Korea has forbidden people from making sarcastic comments about Kim Jong-un or his totalitarian regime in their everyday conversations. The isolated nation’s citizens have been warned, through mass meetings, against even indirect criticism of the state.

North Korean citizens were told about the new ban on sarcasm at large meetings held around the country, which sound like a fun time.

“‘The main point of the lecture was ‘Keep your mouths shut!” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official leading the meeting warned those present against being “dragged into internal hostile behavior”.

The official said citizens, particularly government employees, have started expressing their ire against the administration’s tendency to blame other countries, “when a problem’s cause obviously lies elsewhere”, the broadcasting agency reported. The phrase is thought to be a subtle dig at Kim as he has used it several times in the past to blame the USA for the failure of the North’s actions.

Among the phrases outlawed by Kim are “This is all America’s fault” – a jibe at the paranoid regime’s obsession with blaming the US for its own failings.

Expressions of public discontent with the North Korean regime have spread widely in the tightly controlled state this year, with graffiti mocking production slogans appearing at a construction site in Pyongyang and “more serious” scrawlings attacking Kim Jong Un personally found in areas near China, sources told RFA in earlier reports. This phrase was reported to have become popular among government officials in Pyongyang after Kim failed to attend memorial services held in Russian Federation and China to mark the end of World War II.