[Anchor]

Let us talk more about North Korea with reporter Kim Ayeong.

Kim, I understand that making finger hearts has become an issue in North Korea. That is this gesture, right?

[Reporter]

Yes, that is correct.

As K-pop has grown popular, the finger heart gesture has spread widely around the world.

It is also called the Korean finger heart.

Reports say that students in North Korea were caught making this pose, faced criticism, and had to write self-reflection letters.

This was shared by a source in South Pyongan Province with the North Korea-focused media outlet Daily NK.

The incident occurred at a senior middle school—equivalent to a high school—in Kaechon, where students made the finger heart pose during class and group gymnastics sessions.

In the end, the school's Socialist Patriotic Youth League organization took the lead in defining this act as an anti-socialist element and issued a massive warning.

However, because the pose had already spread widely among the students, it has reportedly not been figured out where they first learned it.

The source stated that so many students are doing it now that it is pointless to even trace back where it first started.

[Anchor]

As far as I know, the very first person to use this finger heart was Chairman Kim Jong-un. Is that correct?

[Reporter]

Yes, that is correct.

Let us look at a photograph first.

This photo was taken during the inter-Korean summit held in North Korea in September 2018.

Chairman Kim Jong-un is making a finger heart pose, and his wife, Ri Sol-ju, is supporting his hand.

Then-President Moon Jae-in and his entourage visited Mount Paektu's Cheonji lake alongside North Korean officials.

According to accounts, then-Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha suggested the pose, saying it was popular in the South, which led to this scene being captured.

Chairman Kim reportedly remarked at the time, "I can't quite get the shape right," but that was already eight years ago.

Even though the supreme leader used the pose long ago, people inside the country now face strict punishment if they make the same mistake.

Ever since the inter-Korean and North Korea-U.S. talks that spanned from the 2018 to 2019 summits broke down,

North Korea has been strictly controlling South Korean speech, clothing styles, and behaviors by enacting laws such as the Law on Rejecting Reactionary Thought and Culture, the Youth Education Guarantee Law, and the Pyongyang Cultural Language Protection Act.