Ms Leonzini says the songbook also rarely contains any tracks with real emotion. “The idea is they want to motivate, to strive towards a common goal for the benefit of the nation… they don’t tend to produce songs like ballads,” she says.

There is zero tolerance for creative or artistic freedom in North Korea. It is illegal for musicians, painters and writers to produce works simply for the sake of art.

“All artistic output in North Korea must serve the class education of citizens and more specifically educate them as to why they should feel a sense of gratitude, a sense of loyalty to the party,” Ms Leonzini says.

North Korea’s government believes in the “seed theory”, she adds, where every single work must contain an ideological…