The Archers comes to North Korea as Kim turns away from propaganda

Telegraph

a day ago

Heartbreak, corruption and family rifts are hardly revolutionary themes in a soap opera.
But in North Korea, where state television shows generally depict a utopian paradise, a more realistic drama with a catchy theme tune has broken the mould in a sign of Kim Jong-un's shifting approach to propaganda.
The show, A New Spring in Paehaek Plain, drops the heavy-handed rhetoric and instead portrays the struggles of life in a rural farming community – where women swap gossip over the garden fence, local officials embezzle grain and young love is complicated by class background.
The soap opera's gritty realness of the toil of daily life and petty criminality in the countryside sits somewhere between Eastenders and the Archers, and is a far cry from the regular sanitised state propaganda.
Dr Edward Powell, an expert on contemporary North Korea at the University of Oxford, said that releasing a show exposing the regime's weakness is a significant 'break from tradition' in the hermit state.
Experts say Kim is trying to pull young urbanites away from illicit streaming of South Korean K-pop, drama, and foreign news, and instead draw them in with this new type of drama.
The North Korean leader's goal, by releasing a series that depicts the reality of corrupt officials and limited infrastructure, is to manage the public's expectations and for them to rally around each other to overcome hardships, experts say.
Reviews suggest that, so far, the change has been a huge hit. According to Geumsu Gangsan, a monthly state-run magazine in North Korea, the series saw 'high viewership ratings' during a 22-episode run that kicked off in April. It was the first new television show to air since 2023.
'Countless viewers sent congratulatory letters and phone calls to the production team... and even gave the lead actors a standing ovation when they encountered them on the street,' the periodical's July issue said.
'The work captured the hearts of audiences because, above all else, it was true to life.'
The story focuses on a Workers' Party official who moves to a farm in the underdeveloped western county of Sinchon, where he's tasked with boosting crop production. But village life comes with a range of new challenges – from local corruption to his disgruntled wife, who doesn't want to move to an area with such limited infrastructure.
The show also features flirting and romance, themes more commonly seen in K-dramas, and hints at changing gender norms – in one scene, a man wears an apron to cook dinner for his family.
Analysts said the shift in what's visible on-screen reflects a broader change in the rhetoric under Kim.
In a notable break with the infallible images previously projected by his family, the authoritarian leader has noted some failures in an attempt to maintain legitimacy and manage expectations. In 2020 he acknowledged food shortages and economic hardships in the country; more recently he shed tears over North Korean soldiers who died in Ukraine.
Dr Powell said: 'The need for the regime to relate to the people is key for Kim Jong-un, and is just one more way in which he has sought to put his own mark on the legacy of North Korea, in differentiating himself from his father and grandfather.'
But while A New Spring in Paehaek Plain has dampened the propaganda, it has not done away with it altogether.
The series addresses social disparities, rural hardships and food insecurity – yet it portrays a government trying to help, and lays blame on individuals rather than the regime. Plus the well-dressed cast, modern housing and up to date technology attempts to revamp perceptions of the secretive state – there's likely an awareness it will be viewed internationally.
'The regime [wants] to portray North Korea as a modern, far from technologically backward state,' said Dr Powell. He added that this fits with one of Kim's 'core narratives' – that 'North Korea is just the same as any other country'.
It may also be a conscious effort to quell interest in foreign, contraband entertainment. According to defectors, people inside North Korea have long sought international shows, amid complaints that state television is unrealistic and at odds with their everyday experiences.
Kim Il-hyuk, who left for South Korea in 2023, told the Wall Street Journal: 'Everything on state television is propaganda, so normally there's nothing people want to watch.'
Recent years have seen a crackdown on outside content, especially from the South – Kim has described K-pop as a 'vicious cancer' that corrupts his country's youth.
This is not just rhetoric: in December 2020, North Korea increased the penalty for possessing or watching entertainment from its rival to up to 15 years in a hard labour camp. Those who distribute the material can face the death penalty.
Dr Powell said that, while no statistics are available, anecdotal reports suggest more and more people are being punished for watching or distributing South Korean content.
In January 2024, two North Korean teenagers were sentenced to 12 years' hard labour for watching and distributing Korean dramas. Then in September 2024, reports emerged of authorities detaining teenagers and forcing them to confess to listening to K-pop.
'All of these incidents form part of Kim Jong-un's clampdown on outside information,' said Dr Powell.
'We must not delude ourselves. For all the portrayals of life in North Korea in this series that differ from previous movies and television dramas, the Kim regime has tightened its social and ideological control over and suppression of dissent.'