North Korean Art Imitating Life: A New Spring in the Paekhak Plain

A new hit drama was released in North Korea earlier this year. Unlike the typical propaganda that paints life in North Korea as a utopian paradise, this new (N)K-drama tells a different tale. The series depicts the tensions that exist between the people and corrupt officials, strife within families, and even goes so far as to portray a North Korean regime with many flaws. 

“The show captivated its audience because, above all else, it was true to life,” according to an article in a North Korean monthly magazine. But if the story struck a chord because it was “true to life,” then were the other shows that North Korea produced not true to life? Some analysts say that this series, named “A New Spring in the Paekhak Plain,” is the regime’s bending to the new tastes of its people, as more of them are being exposed to foreign media. This is true, but what this series reveals is the power of truth. The light of truth often shines brighter in a world full of lies. 

We have sampled all manner of North Korean propaganda from children’s cartoons to movies. In any of these forms, we have never seen a North Korean official painted in a negative light. In our podcast series, “The Demystified Zone,” we spoke in detail about the propagandized cartoons the regime has put out for younger audiences. In the cartoon, the regime is heavy handed in its references to North Korea’s view of its own place in global politics. The cartoon’s protagonists, the squirrels and hedgehogs, live in a utopian society called Flower Hill where its citizens are peaceloving and hard working. Outside forces such as the weasels and wolves constantly plot to destroy the good hearted people of Flower Hill. The show even goes so far as to depict the bear that swore to protect Flower Hill, but was too drunk to fulfill his vows, a direct reference to the USSR’s collapse. 

The regime has been relentless to maintain its image within North Korea as pristine as it possibly can. Like in “Squirrel and Hedgehog,” any hardship in the lives of North Koreans is a product of external forces that seek to destroy the North Korean people. Often, the moral of North Korean propaganda is that the people must rise up and fight against such overwhelming external forces. To our knowledge, there has never been a direct reference to the famine or any of the subsequent food shortages that have taken place in North Korea’s recent history. 

While the regime is quick to paint its place in global politics, it has been reticent to show the realities of life inside North Korea. Propaganda often portrays life in North Korea with tables full of choice foods, and harmonious relationships between citizens and government officials. This is why North Korea’s new drama is so different. 

Another possible motivator behind North Korea’s new drama is that, since the famine of the late ‘90s, illegal foreign media consumption has become commonplace. North Koreans regularly consume media that has been smuggled in from China on USB drives. Apparently, much like the rest of the world, North Koreans cannot get enough of Korean dramas and movies. Survey data from North Korean defectors in South Korea show the dramatic rise in foreign media consumption in North Korea. 

Last year, the organization NK News reported, “more than 83% of escapees who left the DPRK between 2016 and 2020 said they consumed foreign media, such as music and TV shows, up from 67.6% of respondents who left between 2006 and 2010.”

This could explain the reasons why North Korea felt compelled to detail the realities of the country. Perhaps the regime wanted to hold the attention of its own people. But we think the show’s resonance points to something more fundamental about the human heart. It shows that the North Korean people are starving for truth. We know about the Great North Korean Famine, which took place between 1995 and 1998. But a more subtle famine has taken place in North Korea for decades: a famine for truth. 

“During the famine, the regime maintained that North Korea was paradise on earth. ”

Through troubled times, North Korea kept telling its people that everything was ok. During the famine, the regime maintained that North Korea was paradise on earth. North Korea’s new drama does not tell the entire truth. It does not reproduce the abject misery of many people’s lives, but rather it grazes truth. Even this must feel refreshing to the people. 

Furthermore, North Korea has spent the last seven decades eradicating the Gospel from inside its borders. If the Bible is true, and if Jesus is truly the son of God as I believe, then there is an even greater famine in North Korea, a famine for the word of God, the truth that our hearts ultimately long for.

Silence - A Potential Turning Point Between North and South Korea

A view of North Korea from Ganghwa Peace Observatory in South Korea

When our team visited South Korea this June, we stood near the Demilitarized Zone (“DMZ”) and heard firsthand the unsettling, and strange noises that North Korea projected across the border. The haunting sounds that pierced the air, which had been replaying for several months, left an indelible impression on us. Local residents also described the broadcasts with unnerving clarity: as Ahn Hyo-chul put it, “sometimes sounding like a siren, sometimes like a ghost, sometimes like animal cries. Our grandchildren say it sounds like wolves from North Korea,” while another resident, Kim Wan-shik, likened them to “car brakes tearing noises and metal grinding,” calling the sound “extremely irritating,” especially at night, which has left many residents exhausted.

For decades, the DMZ has been more than a physical boundary — it has served as a psychological battlefield. Through high-powered loudspeakers positioned along the border, both Koreas waged a long-standing campaign of sound, filled with propaganda, music and political messages. Earlier this month, South Korea quietly dismantled approximately 20 of its front-line loudspeaker systems along the 250km border, and North Korea reportedly followed suit without a formal agreement or coordinated announcement. This unexpected silence has drawn international attention and raised questions about its meaning for inter-Korean relations going forward.

LOUD SPEAKERS THAT CHANGED LIVES

Historically, South Korea’s broadcasts included K-pop music, uncensored international news, and appeals to North Korean soldiers and citizens – content that directly contradicted the propaganda of the North. These broadcasts were suspended in 2018 following the Panmunjom Declaration but were revived in 2024 as relations deteriorated.

Though often dismissed by North Korea as mere noise, these broadcasts in fact held far greater weight for those within earshot. For North Koreans living or stationed near the border, the messages coming through the loudspeakers were sometimes their first and only exposure to a world beyond the regime’s control. Former South Korean President Park Geun-hye once described these broadcasts as “the most effective form of psychological warfare,” crediting them with encouraging defections and challenging the ideological walls erected by the North Korean regime. Defectors who fled their homeland have backed up this statement. The content, though simple on the surface, often planted the seeds of doubt in listeners, encouraging them to question and, eventually, to act. For instance, at least two North Korean soldiers had reportedly defected in 2017 after hearing the broadcasts and were drawn, in part, by the unsettling realization that the truth they had known was incomplete, or worse, constructed.

A QUIET THAT SPEAKS VOLUMES

Photo: South Korea’s Defence Ministry

The decision to take down propaganda loudspeakers followed South Korean President Lee Jae-myung’s directive to restore parts of the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement to reduce border tensions, which had been suspended amid rising tensions in prior years. According to South Korea's Ministry of National Defense, the dismantling was completed by August 6, and was intended to signal a willingness to rebuild trust and revive dialogue with Pyongyang.

While South Korea acted unilaterally, multiple reports from media outlets indicated that North Korean soldiers were also seen removing speakers near the DMZ around the same time. Despite these peaceful appearances, North Korea’s regime has publicly rejected any suggestion of reciprocation or thaw in relations. In a strongly-worded statement issued on August 13, Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and a key voice on inter-Korean affairs, stated unequivocally that North Korea had “never removed loudspeakers installed on the border area and are not willing to remove them.” She criticized Seoul’s dismantling of its own broadcasts as a misleading gesture, labelling it an attempt to manipulate public sentiment. Kim further dismissed South Korea’s interpretation of any such action as a “pipedream,” and rebuffed calls for dialogue by stressing that any speculation regarding engagement with Seoul or Washington is without foundation.

It may be short lived, but the silence along parts of the heavily militarized border is a welcomed break. Even though the North has rejected any notion of reconciliation, the South’s dismantling of loudspeakers along the Korean border has brought a long-waited feeling of peace to a region defined by tension and psychological warfare.

Prayer for North Korean Refugees: Isolation

One of the most striking things about North Korean refugees is how separated they have been from mass media and the rest of the world. When ministering to them, we must first address the lies they have been fed their whole lives by their government. The North Korean regime is relentless in cutting its people off from the outside world. They tell its people that other countries are terrible places to live and that North Korea is paradise on earth. With no information to refute this, the people generally believe it. It is a nation known for its mind-numbing propaganda.

But change is coming to the Hermit Kingdom. As North Korean refugees like the ones in the care of Crossing Borders travel in and out of the country, they bring with them news from the outside world. DVDs (or VCDs) are creeping past the nation's borders. People are smuggling in small USB drives with Korean dramas and international news reports that are usually only accessed by North Korea’s elite.

One booming industry in North Korea operates along the China-North Korea border as North Korean refugees and businessmen sneak cell phones into the country. These are not North Korean cell phones, which can only access other phones in the country’s tightly monitored network. They are phones that can access China’s cell phone network from inside North Korea. With these phones North Koreans can call family in South Korea.

North Korean refugees in China tell us that North Koreans are not so much interested in the things that most people from the outside world are. The plot lines of South Korean dramas can be entertaining, but most North Koreans are fascinated by the standard of living portrayed in the background of these programs. The city lights of Seoul, the plentiful food on the table, the nice apartments and new, clean clothing that people wear in these videos are what North Koreans are really drawn to.

As North Korean refugees come into our care, it is fascinating to see the transformation that takes place in them. One refugee, after spending years living in China, told us that she still thought the North Korean government is still the best in the world. The nation just needed food. But as time passed our refugee changed in her views. Eventually she told us, “North Korea just needs God.”

As we continue to chip away at the lies of the North Korean government something profound happens within the North Korean refugees we help. They begin to shift away from their worship from Kim Il Sung to recognizing and submitting to the authority and worthiness of Jesus. This is a slow and arduous process, which takes much time and many resources. But it’s why Crossing Borders exists.

Please pray for us as we continue in this work of ending deception and bringing the light of truth to the North Korean refugees and their people who have been isolated from the rest of the world.