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Interesting WSJ article about North Korea producing a TV show that actually shows some negatives, partly because even in a state as tightly controlled as NK, no one believes the propaganda (Kim should get lessons from Trump about inducing blind followership). In addition to the main point, I thought it was wild that this is the first new show that has been produced in NK since 2023(!). Of course, you can always try to bootleg foreign content, but if caught, the penalty is public execution.
As North Koreans Shun State Propaganda, Kim Tries a Flashier TV Show - WSJ
I assume it is for subscribers only so here are a few highlights.
North Korea’s totalitarian leaders have long fed the population bland propaganda that paints the country as a utopian paradise. Movies show hardworking North Koreans who are well-fed and express deep loyalty to the leadership.
Now, as North Koreans—particularly urbanites and younger people—gain furtive access to foreign news and entertainment, the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, is trying a different tactic: television dramas that expose the regime’s weakness. The goal, analysts say, is to manage people’s expectations and rally them to overcome the country’s many hardships.
The result is a new television series that honestly depicts the everyday corruption that is rife in North Korea. Local officials embezzle grain, farmers fail to meet quotas and people bribe their superiors. It also portrays family conflict in contrast to official support for family harmony.
...
The 22-episode “A New Spring in Paehaek Plain” was the first new TV show to air in the Kim regime since 2023....The story centers on a Workers’ Party official fighting against corruption and bureaucracy at Paekhak farm in the western county of Sinchon, to help the village produce more crops. His wife is disappointed to learn the family is moving to a rural area, where infrastructure isn’t well developed and fewer students have the opportunity to attend university. People offer bribes for favors and one woman pressures her son’s girlfriend, who is from a different social background, to leave him.
...
The show’s protagonists use smartphones and students fly drones at school, gadgets that are out of reach for much of the population.
The show frames the country’s hardships, from food insecurity to social disparities, as being actively addressed by a relatable, albeit fallible, government. Analysts say such content reflects Kim’s broader efforts to concede weakness to maintain legitimacy with his people.
...
The new show doesn’t abandon typical propaganda altogether and portrays North Korea as a modern nation. Food is abundant and new houses are being built. People use smartphones to call each other and do research on computers. Farmers work as a massive red banner hangs behind them that reads: “Let us become farmers who serve the nation!”
A young female student spends time drawing the blueprint for an agricultural drone at school. “I’m going to become successful and make sure that pesticides and fertilizers are applied using this drone,” she tells her mother.
...
The utopian portrayal of North Korea in state propaganda has long been shunned by domestic viewers for being too unrealistic and unrelatable, according to defectors.
Most of the population in larger cities have TVs, but less than half of residents in rural areas can afford one, defectors say. Younger North Koreans prefer smuggled South Korean dramas or movies to turgid state news or official shows that tend to repeatedly praise the regime and condemn its enemies, like the U.S. and South Korea, they say.
Kim Il-hyuk, who defected to South Korea in 2023, said he frequently watched South Korean TV shows and listened to K-pop. He only turned on state television when he suspected authorities might be patrolling the neighborhood in search of people watching foreign content. Since 2020, the police have visited houses about twice a month for surveillance, he said. Those who were caught watching foreign content were publicly executed.
As North Koreans Shun State Propaganda, Kim Tries a Flashier TV Show - WSJ
I assume it is for subscribers only so here are a few highlights.
North Korea’s totalitarian leaders have long fed the population bland propaganda that paints the country as a utopian paradise. Movies show hardworking North Koreans who are well-fed and express deep loyalty to the leadership.
Now, as North Koreans—particularly urbanites and younger people—gain furtive access to foreign news and entertainment, the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, is trying a different tactic: television dramas that expose the regime’s weakness. The goal, analysts say, is to manage people’s expectations and rally them to overcome the country’s many hardships.
The result is a new television series that honestly depicts the everyday corruption that is rife in North Korea. Local officials embezzle grain, farmers fail to meet quotas and people bribe their superiors. It also portrays family conflict in contrast to official support for family harmony.
...
The 22-episode “A New Spring in Paehaek Plain” was the first new TV show to air in the Kim regime since 2023....The story centers on a Workers’ Party official fighting against corruption and bureaucracy at Paekhak farm in the western county of Sinchon, to help the village produce more crops. His wife is disappointed to learn the family is moving to a rural area, where infrastructure isn’t well developed and fewer students have the opportunity to attend university. People offer bribes for favors and one woman pressures her son’s girlfriend, who is from a different social background, to leave him.
...
The show’s protagonists use smartphones and students fly drones at school, gadgets that are out of reach for much of the population.
The show frames the country’s hardships, from food insecurity to social disparities, as being actively addressed by a relatable, albeit fallible, government. Analysts say such content reflects Kim’s broader efforts to concede weakness to maintain legitimacy with his people.
...
The new show doesn’t abandon typical propaganda altogether and portrays North Korea as a modern nation. Food is abundant and new houses are being built. People use smartphones to call each other and do research on computers. Farmers work as a massive red banner hangs behind them that reads: “Let us become farmers who serve the nation!”
A young female student spends time drawing the blueprint for an agricultural drone at school. “I’m going to become successful and make sure that pesticides and fertilizers are applied using this drone,” she tells her mother.
...
The utopian portrayal of North Korea in state propaganda has long been shunned by domestic viewers for being too unrealistic and unrelatable, according to defectors.
Most of the population in larger cities have TVs, but less than half of residents in rural areas can afford one, defectors say. Younger North Koreans prefer smuggled South Korean dramas or movies to turgid state news or official shows that tend to repeatedly praise the regime and condemn its enemies, like the U.S. and South Korea, they say.
Kim Il-hyuk, who defected to South Korea in 2023, said he frequently watched South Korean TV shows and listened to K-pop. He only turned on state television when he suspected authorities might be patrolling the neighborhood in search of people watching foreign content. Since 2020, the police have visited houses about twice a month for surveillance, he said. Those who were caught watching foreign content were publicly executed.
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