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North Korea Contemporary Cultural Expression
The role of literature and art in North Korea is primarily
didactic; cultural expression serves as an instrument for
inculcating chuch'e ideology and the need to continue the
struggle for revolution and reunification of the Korean
Peninsula. There is little subtlety in most contemporary cultural
expression. Foreign imperialists, especially the Japanese and the
Americans, are depicted as heartless monsters; revolutionary
heroes and heroines are seen as saintly figures who act from the
purest of motives. The three most consistent themes are martyrdom
during the revolutionary struggle (depicted in literature such as
The Sea of Blood), the happiness of the present society,
and the genius of the "great leader."
Kim Il Sung himself was described as a writer of "classical
masterpieces" during the anti-Japanese struggle. Novels created
"under his direction" include The Flower Girl, The Sea
of Blood, The Fate of a Self-Defense Corps Man, and
The Song of Korea; these are considered "prototypes and
models of chuch'e literature and art." A 1992 newspaper
report describes Kim in semiretirement as writing his memoirs--"a
heroic epic dedicated to the freedom and happiness of the
people."
The state and the Korean Workers' Party control the
production of literature and art. In the early 1990s, there was
no evidence of any underground literary or cultural movements
such as those that exist in the Soviet Union or in China. The
party exercises control over culture through its Propaganda and
Agitation Department and the Culture and Arts Department of the
KWP's Central Committee. The KWP's General Federation of Korean
Literature and Arts Unions, the parent body for all literary and
artistic organizations, also controls cultural activity.
The population has little or no exposure to foreign cultural
influences apart from performances by song-and-dance groups and
other entertainers brought in periodically for limited audiences.
These performances, such as the Spring Friendship Art Festival
held annually in April, are designed to show that the peoples of
the world, like the North Koreans themselves, love and respect
the "great leader." During the 1980s and the early 1990s, the
North Korean media gave Kim Jong Il credit for working
ceaselessly to make the country a "kingdom of art" where a
cultural renaissance unmatched in other countries was taking
place. Indeed, the younger Kim is personally responsible for
cultural policy.
A central theme of cultural expression is to take the best
from the past and discard "reactionary" elements. Popular,
vernacular styles and themes in literature, art, music, and dance
are esteemed as expressing the truly unique spirit of the Korean
nation. Ethnographers devote much energy to restoring and
reintroducing cultural forms that have the proper "proletarian"
or "folk" spirit and that encourage the development of a
collective consciousness. Lively, optimistic musical and
choreographic expression are stressed. Group folk dances and
choral singing are traditionally practiced in some but not all
parts of Korea and were being promoted throughout North Korea in
the early 1990s among school and university students. Farmers'
musical bands have also been revived. Kim Il Sung condemns such
cultural expressions as plaintive
p'ansori (see Glossary)
ballads. Kim also condemns the sad "crooning tunes" composed
during the Japanese colonial occupation, although he apparently
has made an exception for songs that indirectly criticize the
injustices of the colonial society.
P'yongyang and other large cities offer the broadest of a
necessarily narrow selection of cultural expression. "Art
propaganda squads" travel to production sites in the provinces to
perform poetry readings, one-act plays, and songs in order to
"congratulate workers on their successes" and "inspire them to
greater successes through their artistic agitation." Such squads
are prominent in the countryside during the harvest season and
whenever "speed battles" to increase productivity are held.
Data as of June 1993
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