North Korea Propaganda

 History of Propaganda In North Korea

The usage of propaganda in North Korea began around the 1950s when the Soviet Union appointed Kim Il Sung as the leader of the country. Back then the North Korean propaganda showed a good relationship between Soviet Russia and North Korea with Russian soldiers being depicted as paternal figures to North Korean children according to many sources. Once the relationship between North Korea and Soviet Russia became negative the narrative switched and the media started to depict Russians negatively. Americans are also depicted very negatively in North Korean propaganda according to several sources Americans are shown as an "evil race" and that the only relationship possible with America is a "hostile one". Similar to Russia and America, Japan is a nation that is constantly shown in a negative light in NK propaganda. Throughout history Japan was shown as a dangerous nation in this propaganda.

Current Propaganda

The current propaganda in North Korea is less focused on making other nations look bad and instead focused on making itself look great. The poverty rate in NK is reported by many cites to be a whopping 60%. NK propaganda tries to make the country seem extremely wealthy and rich and show scenes of people enjoying extreme wealth. Another aspect of the current propaganda is the idolization of current and past leaders. Current leader Kim Jong Un and past leaders Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung are basically made out to be god-like figures and are shown in the media to be worshipped by the North Korean public. Media use in North Korea is also heavily censored to prevent citizens from having a glimpse at the outside world 

Examples

This is an anti-American piece of propaganda from North Korea showing the capital building in DC surrounded by ripped up American Flags being attacked by missiles

This piece shows a former North Korean leader as some sort of godly figure up in the sky being worshipped by many different kinds of people

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kim-Il-Sung

https://www.vox.com/2016/1/6/10724334/north-korea-history

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/19/world/asia/north-korea-posters.html

https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/north-koreas-power-structure