Due to its portability and ability to be carried during a march to a construction site or a “voluntary” day of hard labor in the fields, the accordion has been a favorite musical instrument for the people of North Korea. In fact, during the 1990s, all North Korean teachers were required to be able to play the instrument and were tested in their proficiency before being certified to teach.

One of the popular songs taught to young school children included the lyrics:

Our enemies are the American bastards

Who are trying to take over our beautiful fatherland.

With guns that I make with my own hands

I will shoot them. BANG, BANG, BANG.

Source: Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, by Barbara Demick.

Listen to North Korean accordion artists play “Take On Me.”

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Read more fun facts about North Korea.

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