Posted by Katherine St Asaph on 07/10/2012 at 2:43 PM News

The Popdust Files: wtf

A guy in North Korea is dating someone–no big deal; it happens. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is dating someone–a pretty big deal, as he is. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is dating a former hit singer–to YouTube, posthaste!

The gist: Kim Jong-un is reportedly dating Hyon Song-wol, a vocalist in the state-sponsored Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble. (“Reportedly,” in this case, meaning there are reports that it’s his sister and other reports that it’s just some unassociated government official, and other reports that dating doesn’t even come into play.) There’s some drama and/or confusion about just when their courtship started, or whether it started, but this is a music site, so let’s focus on the music.

The Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble’s released roughly 150 albums of tracks titled about what you’d expect–”No Motherland Without You,” “Reunification Rainbow,” “Thank You, Comrade Kim Jong-il,” etc. Then there’s the No. 1 hit of sorts (state-sponsored media always necessitates that “of sorts”), the one that appears in every story about this and the source of a million identical OMG-SO-HILARIOUS Internet commenter yuks: “Excellent Horse-Like Lady.” Hey, everybody: not every language translates smoothly into other languages, especially if a translator’s only familiar with one of them; it’s pretty damn easy to see how the title connotes things like bravery or strength or whatnot. The track is chirpy and inconsequential in the same way any government-sanctioned music is, it’s got the sort of earnest classical-ish vocal that goes with it, and goodness knows the U.S. put out tons of this stuff during the ’50s. I mean, sorry to spoil your easy jokes, but….

At any rate, you can hear it below; for more details on the news, Telegraph goes in depth.