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Home › Forums › Short Online Seminars › Two Koreas, Summer 2020 › Session 5 (July 23) - Depictions of North Korea
Juana Evink.
Jennifer Jung-KimThe common theme in the Sunshine Policy-era films about NK is that NK is not the enemy. In Shiri, it's rogue NK agents, not the official NK, that tried to thwart inter-Korea relations. (Please see my reading on the topic.)
Fast-forward to today, and there were people in SK who criticized Crash Landing On You as violating the National Security Law for its positive depiction of NK.
These are just commercial films or dramas, but I think they still go a long way in swaying public opinion and sometimes public policy.
On another note -- after Parasite's success, the SK government said they were making grants available to people who live in semi-basement units so they can improve ventilation, etc. In Korea, the basement units have terrible ventilation and humidity issues. My aunt built an in-law unit in her basement but no one wanted to live there because of the hunidity, despite running a large huindified 24/7. I'm not sure why East Coast/Midwest basements in my friends' homes seem more tolerable when their climates are similar to that of Korea. I'm guessing it has to do with construction methods.
Jasmine WeeksHi Meghann,
I like the way you use many different ways to describe North Koreans. Indeed, we do not necessary have the luxurius opportunities of hearing the stories from the North Koreans themselves except from the defectors/refugees, or at best guesstimation from the various media, which again is lookign through looking someone's lens and bias. Although kept within North Korean with much restrictions and ignorance of the outside world, I wonder what are some of those more succesful and happier stories would look. it might not be ideal from the eyes of the outside world but I am sure they are people who are contended and accepting their 'fate' as it is. On the other hand, because there seems to be not so much open discussions about personal choice of career but we see a dfferent variety of artistic and talented skills emerged from time to time. It is difficult to imagine that people can still perform well if all they ever receive is "oppression". I can't wait to learn more.
Jennifer Jung-KimI just saw this announcement about a virtual event related to this topic.
I’m writing to announce The Unended Korean War: 70 Years, part of Third World Newsreel’s Organizing and Filmmaking: Then and Now series of free virtual screenings followed by Zoom conversations with filmmakers and activists.
From July 24-31, TWN will present four films about the Korean War and its legacies on the organization’s Vimeo Channel:
Grandmother’s Flower, Jeong-hyun Mun, 2008, 89 min
“Combining substantial interviews with archival photos, Grandmother’s Flower offers invaluable insights into contemporary Korea’s struggle to move beyond the dark periods of Japanese colonial rule, the Korean War, and subsequent division of the country. Highly recommended.”
-Video Librarian Magazine
Repatriation, Dong-won Kim, 2003, 149 min
Winner of the Sundance Freedom of Expression Award. Kim followed North Korean political prisoners in South Korea over ten years after their release, documenting how they survived decades of brutality and their quest to return to the North.
Homes Apart: Korea, J.T. Takagi & Christine Choy, 1991, 56 min
“A moving account of the ongoing tragedy of families separated since the Korean national division... anyone who sees the film will go away with an empathetic understanding of the losses.”
- Asian Educational Media Services News and Reviews
North Korea: Beyond the DMZ, J.T. Takagi & Hye Jung Park, 2003, 60 min
This documentary follows a young Korean American woman to see her relatives in North Korea, and through unique footage of life in the D.P.R.K. and interviews with ordinary people and scholars, opens a window into this nation and its people.
The second part of the exhibition will happen on July 28 at 6 PM with a virtual panel featuring filmmakers and activists who will speak on the films and the current efforts to finally end this 70-year-old war. Speakers include Minju Bae, Hyun Lee and Hye-Jung Park. The panel event is cosponsored by Nodutdol for Korean Community Development and the Korea Policy Institute.
RSVP on Eventbrite to get links to the films and panel:
eventbrite.com/e/the-unended-
Laura HuffmanHow is North Korea seen by outsiders?
The great challenge of presenting North Korea to outsiders is that the presentation can only come, really, in three forms: 1.) what the DPRK chooses to share about the country to the outside world, including visitors to the country itself and trips abroad by Olympic athletes and musical groups 2.) what we learn from defectors/refugees, who by the fact that they are in whatever way able to defect may demonstrate that they are not an 'average' North Korean (I'm thinking here about having the contacts/money to be able to get out) and 3.) what we can fictionalize/surmise based on those accounts. Of course, as with any representation of any country/culture in human history, context/historiography is key: what is the relationship between the DPRK and the country representing it through any type of media (even if it is the DPRK itself). I'm reminded of the 'sourcing' question for my AP World History students on DBQs for each primary source: what is the historical context? Audience? Purpose? Point of View?
So it makes perfect sense, then, that as those relationships between the Koreas and the outside world evolve, so too do the representations of North Koreans and depictions of North Korea itself. Whereas we learned in Dr. Jung-Kim's lecture about how Bond spent time in a North Korean prison camp in Die Another Day, released just as the Cold War was ending and perhaps it was more prudent to use the DPRK as the enemy rather than the uncertain status of the crumbled USSR/Eastern Bloc, we've also seen how, as the threat of the DPRK was seen as less threatening over time it could be portrayed comically in the west, as seen in Team America World Police or The Interview. While I openly admit that I haven't seen The Interview, knowing the plot makes me wonder if the Sony hack that followed was more about the film portraying the assassination of Kim Jong Un, or the mocking of him, which, it appears, would almost be considered an equivalent offense.
I also think about how North Korea is portrayed in South Korean media. While it has already been mentioned that the Sunshine Policy had an impact on a softening of the response to North Korea in the popular culture created during that time, two works that were created after the end of the Sunshine Policy continue to portray North Koreans as sympathetic individuals worthy of humanity and respect. Many have already mentioned Crash Landing on You, which portrays the non-villanous North Koreans as likeable, funny, caring Koreans equivalent to their brothers and sisters in the South. After seeing that film and developing a substantial crush on Hyun Bin (who plays Captain Ri), I sought out other films/Kdramas that he appears in, which included Confidential Assignment (available on Amazon Prime!). In that film he also plays a North Korean, this time paired with a South Korean detective in the South to retrieve some plates used for counterfeiting American currency. As in CLOY, he is portrayed as honorable and heroic, making what Westerners would consider 'good' choices. This remind me, again, of something Dr. Jung-Kim said about reunification, while it was something older Koreans sought, younger Koreans now look for peaceful coexistence with the North. How better to facilitate that peaceful coexistence than by fashioning in popular culture the ultimate 'frenemy': while the regime is an enemy to the South, its people, humanized through film, kdramas, third-person accounts like Barbara Demick's and first-person accounts like Hyeonseo Lee's book and Ted Talk.
Laura HuffmanTom,
Great post! It brings to my mind three things:
1.) I, too, remember watching M*A*S*H reruns as a kid, and, if memory serves, didn't Klinger, the one who kept trying to go home, end up being the one who stayed at the end, because he married a Korean woman? There's probably a whole post just in analyzing that!
2.) You make an important point about how the United States is portrayed in North Korea, too. I believe it was you who told us about the Hot Nights/Cold War screening yesterday, and in the Songs from the North film it does show some of the anti-American propaganda in addition to asking the question, What if the United States was different?
3.) What a insightful comment about movie marketing! I'm reminded of an article I read about how American films were edited for the Germany audience from 1933-1941 to ensure they could be sold/shown there when you talked about how making China the villan would certainly close a very lucrative market, indeed. Making North Korea the villan in films they won't see anyway (especially now that Kim Jong Un is not the cinephile his father was) seems like a prudent choice from a profit-margin standpoint.
Kathy KeffelerIt has been a real pleasure learning from ALL of you!
One book that I have not seen referenced so far (Or did I miss it?) is "The Orphan Masters' Son. Adam Johnson won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for it in 2013, and while harrowing, there are some parts that just...stay with you..
Jasmine WeeksSeeing a Korean movie for the first time didn't give me the impression of how 'bad' North Korea could be, or at least to me it didn't reflect the image portrayed in the news. Like any other movie, it shows good guys and bad guys in the country. I wonder there truly are sincere officials who are just not part of the corrupted system. Also, the other theme that comes through to me the message and desire for reunification. I was devastated to find out that there is still not a way for families on both sies of the Korea to be united, probably more reluctant on North Korea side, as it showed in the movie too.
Tom MuellerThank you. Yes, Klinger stayed in Korea to help his new wife assist her in finding their parents. She was split up from them at a refugee camp, I think.
Tom MuellerThank you for the resource.
Heather ButlerI think that North Korean people have become more humanized in South Korean popular culture, while the government and leaders are still depicted as villains. This is especially prevalent in American films. Through dramas like Crash Landing on You, we see the North Korean soldiers as a diverse group, some of them are villains, but many of them are just regular young men trying to survive to be able to go home to their mom when their mandatory service is up. The people in the town look out for the people in the town whether by filling their larder or protecting each other when their loved ones get taken; the ahjummas run the village, scolding their kids all together. Looking at the literature, music and art that is being produced in North Korea; they are still painting it as the “happiest place on earth”, which if you look at the art and literature produced by North Korean refugees, this is pure propaganda. Watching the clip of “Crossing Heaven’s Border” I am reminded of the poem, Home, by Warshan Shire when I think of the girl saying, “If I get caught, I’ll kill myself.”
no one leaves home unless
home is the mouth of a shark
you only run for the border
when you see the whole city running as well
If North Korea was “the happiest place on earth”, no one would want to go through all the terror and danger to escape it; through searches, harassment, dangerous water and treacherous jungle. The Mansudae Art Studio is a powerhouse of putting out North Korean art, primarily propaganda in nature, Moranbong performs and sings their leader’s praises and the Choson Writer’s Union produces all major works of literature. There are people in North Korea, in the art and literature world that support Kim Jong Un and continue creating state sponsored art, because there are always artists on both sides in the push and pull of politics and culture. There are also artists and writers that oppose the oppressive regime, and if they have fled from North Korea you can see it in their works, such as Sun Un, Choi Sung-gook and Kang Nara. Artists like Song Byeok previously created portraits of Kim Jong Il and now uses his art to criticize the regime. Pop culture and art, along with media portrayals help to shape our opinion of North Korea and it is really important for our students for the North Korean people to be humanized and have a chance to tell their own stories.
Kimberly de BerzunzaLaura, this is a really great post. I was thinking the same thing about sourcing, but would not have said it as well as you did here! Studying North Korea is not so different from what we do with much older time periods and limited information.
I was reminded of something else as I read your post that I have been thinking about while watching "Crash Landing on You," and that is in terms of the cosmetic surgery- now I am looking at the actors' eyes, noses, and jawlines. I'm wondering what work they've had done, and how this correlates with the roles they play, specifically your mention of Hyun Bin playing a similarly sympathetic character in another film.
Overall I am strongly in favor of the use of fiction to help my students understand History- I teach Middle School and I'm so grateful to our English teacher for teaching "The Giver," for example. I see so many parallels that I can use as connections to various civilizations and political systems we study, and I see many parallels with North Korea. It would be interesting to do some kind of comparison using a North Korean film or maybe a short story, and something like "The Giver" or "Hunger Games" or "Divergent."
Finally, I am struck by the recurring thought that everywhere in the world, people are just people. Cultures are different and political systems are different, but at our core we want to live a good life, be happy and secure, love and be loved, and feel like we belong. I appreciate seeing that depicted in scenes from North Korea, so that we avoid that "Single Story" trap as well as our own propaganda tropes depicting North Koreans as evil automotons marching to honor the Great Leader, when in reality they are pretty much like us.
Jane HannonThough not written by an outsider, but rather a defector from North Korea, "The Girl With Seven Names" actually encapsulates many of impressions of life in North Korea that I have formed from the American news media. This chapter depicts children in the iconic red scarves learning to march and "to subordinate their will to that of the collective" by participating in mass games to commemorate national holidays. In school, the protagonist learns that Kim Sung Il is the most accomplished military leader of all time and encounters negative portrayals of South Koreans, Americans, and even the Chinese. I found this reading to be accessible and compelling, and I think it would work well in a high school classroom.
Laura HuffmanBeautifully said. I love the idea of comparing North Korea to fictional dystopias; I think students would be shocked to learn about what life must be like for the average North Korean, and can make parallels to ones they've already read about. Since they're predisposed to rooting for Katniss Everdeen or Tris Prior, that empathy would hopefully extend to the real-life heroes and heroines trying to survive in a real-life dysfuncational and oppressive society like the DPRK.
Jane HannonIt seems that one of the first things about that come to many outsider's minds about North Korea are prison camps. During my years in the classroom the imprisonment of Euna Lee and Laura Ling and then the death of Otto Warmbier have been widely publicized in the American media. So Demick's observation that North Koreans have numerous words for "prison" with different nuances and connations, and the account of Hyuck's treatment, resonated with what I thought I knew.
Similarly, Time magazine's article on the pop group Moranbong also incorporated many recurring themes in the American media's portrayal of North Korea: the emphasis on the military, as seen by the costumes and the performers' own roles in the North Korean military, the incorporation of some aspects of Western pop culture embraced by Korean elites, such as Disney, the patriotic songs paying tribute to the Great Leader, and even the rumors about the possible execution of the lead singer all echo ideas about North Korea that many Americans already possess. I did not found a lot in the readings for this session that really challenged what I thought I knew about North Korea.
Maria CardenasHow is North Korea seen by outsiders?
I believe North Korea is seen as a communist country: who commits horrible acts. The fact that they have nuclear weapons I believe is what worries people. They can never be sure of what North Korea is willing to do because of how they treat their own people. For the rights that we have in the United States people in North Korea will be punished. Based on the reading of Demick we read that a person can get in trouble for criticizing the leader. North Koreans are seen as villains in films.
I found it very interesting that North Korea has different names for prisons depending on the offense they committed (Demick). You can even be sent to a prison or detention center if you miss a day of work. I wonder how do sick days apply in North Korea. Do they have sick days? They also have labor camps were people get sent for antistate crimes. North Koreans were being executed for many reasons in 1997, such as stealing.
Outsiders may not see the humanity of North Koreans. Professor Jung’s article, described different films that depicted a South Koreans and North Koreans. Amy Qin’s article is about a North Korean Orchestra giving a concert in South Korea. South Koreans that attended the concert saw that North Korea was sophisticated and that they were similar to them. Even though it seems as if North Korea wants to work things out with South Korea this quote resonates with me. “But the message was almost too peaceful,” [Eom Won-seon] said. “It confirmed my belief that Kim is an unpredictable person. At any minute, he could turn around and launch a missile and I wouldn’t be surprised” (Qin). I like the message from Professor Jung’s video that “we must separate the regime from the people.”