Can South Korean TV Shows Really Bring Change to North Korea?

Meredith Shaw

Society, Asia

Smuggled dramas have great resonance in the repressive culture of the North—and could even be subversive.

As reports abound of the large and growing underground demand for South Korean TV dramas in North Korea, there has been much breathless speculation on the possibilities that such cultural infiltration might spawn social unrest and political change. Indeed, anecdotal evidence indicates that watching smuggled dramas has helped inspire thousands of North Koreans to defect to the South. But whether it is likely to inspire rebellion within North Korea is a completely separate question.

Just how subversive are South Korean dramas, really? A closer examination of several South Korean dramas popular in the North reveals some uniquely Korean themes that are not at all incompatible with North Korea’s ruling ideology.

A few years ago, the drama Secret Garden attained such an underground following in North Korea that a cottage industry sprang up in China producing and smuggling knockoffs of the lead actor’s trademark sequined tracksuit for sale on the black market. In this drama, the main character is the spoiled, arrogant young scion of a major conglomerate, with an expensive foreign education but a playboy lifestyle and zero work ethic. Before he is transformed through the love of a good woman, he comes close to losing control of his family conglomerate to the scheming of his ambitious right-hand man, the hardworking underling who has been running the actual day-to-day operations of the company for years.