Members of unified teams of north and south of Korea cheered and played in international games, singing Arirang. ThatвЂ™s why Koreans from north, south and abroad sang Arirang of Reunification as a display of their aspiration for reunification and agony caused by national division on several occasions including pan-national reunification concerts. In those days the Korean people created the song Songun Arirang which highly praises the revolutionary exploits of Chairman Kim Jong Il who safeguarded the destiny of the country and nation on the strength of Songun politics.ДЄrirang symbolizes and represents the Korean nation. And described in the song Arirang of Prosperity is the laughter of the Korean people who enjoy happiness in their socialist country. The social climate of army-people unity-both treasuring and helping each other-finds expression in the song related to Arirang. It changed into a song with various forms of melodies and emotions for a long period of time. This demonstrated the national identity of the Korean people.ДЄfter the liberation of their country the Korean people built a new democratic country and promoted the postwar rehabilitation and socialist construction, dancing to the tune of Arirang.ДЄrirang has been the mental companion of the Korean people, good times and bad. When he entered the stadium ahead of all other runners, wearing a Japanese national flag on his chest, the Korean spectators cheered him singing Arirang. In August 1936 Son Ki Jong took the menвЂ™s marathon gold medal at the Olympic Games held in Berlin, Germany. They dreamed of the day of national liberation singing the song. However, the Korean people sang Arirang more loudly as a demonstration of their resistance against the Japanese imperialist police who forced them to sing Japanese songs. Besides they removed the lyric of the song from the Korean song albums and prohibited the production and sales of records on which the song was stored. In 1929 the Japanese imperialists issued a decree on banning singing the song under the pretext that it disturbed public security. For this reason its ideological and thematic scope has been broadened over a long historical period, and the song spawned many local varieties like Kosong Arirang and Tanchon Arirang.ДЄrirang was sung as a song to express the resistance of the Korean people against the Japanese imperialists during their military occupation (1905-1945) of Korea. With its gentle and graceful melody the song is run through with the ideological sentiments of the Korean people who love their native place and country. As a simple song about romantic story of a couple, it reflects the unanimous aspiration and desire of the then people who wanted to lead a happy life in a bright world. The song began to be sung among the locals of western region of the Korean peninsula in the late 14th century. The Korean people are still fond of singing Arirang, despite the elapse of long ages since its birth. For both peoples, it served as a mirror for self-contemplation and an 'ethnographic lens' for gazing upon the other.Arirang is a typical folk song of the Korean nation. 'Arirang' became the most familiar song in the Japanese empire: Its persistent theme of loss spoke to Koreans of their lost sovereignty and to Japanese of the ravaging effects of modernity on traditional lifeways. However, in the 1930s and 1940s, precisely the time when assimilationist pressures in colonial Korea were intensifying, Japanese songsmiths, singers, and recording companies released 'Arirang' renditions in prodigious quantities, sometimes in collaboration with Korean performers. A musical 'skeleton' capable of countless improvised variations and interpretations, some 'Arirangs' explicitly assailed the Japanese and thus were censored by colonial authorities. Its iconic status in contemporary Korea derives from its perceived role in strengthening Korean resolve to resist the cultural violence of the Japanese colonial occupation (1905-45). 'Arirang' is known worldwide as the quintessential Korean folk song.

Arirang alone