Abstract

This article examines the ways in which the North Korean regime filters and re-interprets various ‘messages’ from the outside world for its domestic audience through the lens of state-produced literature. In broad strokes, I identify three main types of foreign interactions purported to send a ‘message’ to North Korea – economic sanctions, summit diplomacy and military exercises/fleet movements – and examine how these are treated in North Korean fiction produced by the Korean Writer’s Union, an important arm of the Party’s Propaganda and Agitation Department. Each of the three interaction types represents a formal effort by an outside government – typically the United States or its allies – to send a message to the regime or its people and thereby shape their behavior and/or perception of the outside world. By examining how these ‘messages’ are portrayed in North Korean fiction, we can gain insight into how the regime shapes internal narratives about foreign affairs, as well as what sort of alternative narratives it is most anxious to intercept or disrupt.

摘要

本文考察了朝鲜政权通过国家生产的文学作品为国内观众过滤和重新解释来自外部世界的各种“信息”的方式。概括地说，我确定了三种主要类型的旨在向朝鲜发送“信息”的外国互动——经济制裁、首脑外交和军事演习/舰队运动——并研究了这些在朝鲜作家的小说中是如何处理的。工会，是党的宣传鼓动部的重要分支。这三种互动类型中的每一种都代表了外部政府（通常是美国或其盟国）的正式努力，旨在向该政权或其人民发送信息，从而塑造他们的行为和/或对外部世界的看法。