People Creeped Out After Discovering What Plays Through Loudspeakers Every Morning In North Korea

For nearly twenty years now, residents in one North Korean city have been waking up to a sound that many describe as downright eerie.

The country, officially known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is located in East Asia and is ruled by a totalitarian regime.

Organizations like Amnesty International, the United Nations, and Freedom House have all spoken out about North Korea’s troubling human rights record - one of the worst in the world, according to reports.

North Korea has been under the control of the Kim family since 1948, who are also known by their formal lineage title - the Mount Paektu Bloodline.

In 2008, just three years before the death of the country’s second supreme leader, Kim Jong Il, something strange began happening. A loud, haunting sound started ringing through Pyongyang, the nation’s capital.

Now, every single morning at 6 a.m., the city built from towering concrete, polished bronze, and grand marble is filled with this unusual melody that some call downright creepy.

You can watch what happens each morning below:

The haunting sound was also featured in the Channel 5 documentary Michael Palin in North Korea, where it caught the attention of viewers around the world.

Monty Python star Michael Palin described it as “the most peculiar wake-up call,” and lately it’s been making the rounds again online as people react to its strange vibe.

"I thought it was just incidental post-production music," wrote one YouTube commenter after listening in.

"But when you learn that it's being played through a sound-system throughout the city it becomes creepy. It takes on a bizarre life of its own. There's also something weirdly hypnotic about it to"

Another viewer chimed in with: "Eerie. Sounds like a perfect soundtrack for a strange dystopian land, played throughout the city like that creates a fitting vibe."

"It seems like a song that would play if you walk around in a foggy forest under the watchful eye of a mystical predator creature," another person commented.

Over on TikTok, someone shared: "This is the same exact vibe I get in my dreams."

And someone else added: "That's quite creepy imagine having sleep paralysis and this is playing,"

People have been having their say on the North Korean music KIM WON JIN/AFP via Getty Images

If you’ve never heard about this strange morning tradition before, here’s what you need to know.

The song that gets blasted every morning over the loudspeakers at Pyongyang Railway Station is called 'Where Are You, Dear General?'

It’s believed that this six-and-a-half-minute track may have been written by Kim Jong Il himself back in 1971. The song originally appeared in the North Korean opera A True Daughter of the Party.

It's believed the music first started blaring in 2008 Feng Li/Getty Images

In the opera, the story centers around Kang Yeon-ok, an army nurse who dreams of one day meeting Kim Il Sung - Kim Jong Il’s father and the founder of North Korea.

Since around 2008, a cover version of the song performed by the Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble has echoed through Pyongyang every morning at 6 a.m.

Many locals and visitors alike now recognize 'Where Are You, Dear General?' as a kind of nationwide alarm clock. Some say the version that plays is so distorted, it barely sounds like the original anymore.

According to NK News, this haunting ballad is also sometimes played on North Korean state television.

Honestly, it’s one of those things you really have to hear for yourself to fully understand just how strange it feels.