North Korea.
그림책
North Korea
1992
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North Korean comics, called geurimchaek (picture books), are made under state supervision to teach children the Juche ideology, with stories of courage, loyalty to the party, the anti-Japanese struggle and communist morality.
The best-known titles abroad are 1990s books such as The Crystal Key (1992) and the full-colour Great General Mighty Wing (1994), and spy and adventure books of the 2000s such as Blizzard in the Jungle (2001), which usually blame Americans and Japanese for the nation's troubles. Much of what is known outside the country comes from copies that reach China and from translations by Heinz Insu Fenkl.
7
12
1992
1990s
Artists from North Korea in the archive.
Comics from North Korea in the archive.
The Crystal Key, the earliest comic from North Korea in the archive.
The decade when the most new comics from North Korea began.
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North Korea in 3 chapters
A short history you can leaf through. Click a page, use the arrow keys, or press Turn the page to read on.
North Korea.
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3 chapters
Chapter 1
1992
to 1999
Fables of the crisis years
1992
to 1999
Chapter 01
Fables of the crisis years
The Crystal Key (1992) was a famous pirate adventure almost free of ideology, while Great General Mighty Wing (1994), printed in colour by a state press in the year Kim Il Sung died, used a bee colony to address drought, irrigation and invading enemies. The Secret of Frequency A (1994) showed young North Korean scientists saving an unnamed African country.
2000
to 2009
Chapter 02
Spy thrillers and picture-book series
Comics of the 2000s tended to be moralistic spy thrillers for boys and teenagers, mostly printed in black and white on poor paper. Blizzard in the Jungle (2001) and General Loser and the Gnats (2005) cast Americans as villains or converts, and in 2006 the detective series Conviction and the Detective sold in large numbers in Pyongyang bookshops.
2008
to today
Chapter 03
North Korean comics abroad
Heinz Insu Fenkl's translations of Great General Mighty Wing, Blizzard in the Jungle and The Secret of Frequency A appeared in Words Without Borders between 2008 and 2011. In 2016 Choi Seong-guk, a former North Korean studio artist who defected in 2011, began Rodong Simmun on Naver, believed to be the first webtoon by a North Korean defector.
The comics to know
- The Crystal Key1992 · graphic novelPirate adventure that Fenkl found almost free of ideology.
- Great General Mighty Wing대장이 된 억센 날개1994 · comicCho Pyong-kwon and Rim Wal-yong. Colour comic about a honeybee general, as famous in North Korea as Mickey Mouse in the West.
- The Secret of Frequency A1994 · graphic novelEom Jeong-hui and Ko Im-hong. Young scientists save an African nation.
- Blizzard in the Jungle2001 · graphic novelRi Chol-geun and Jo Hak-rae. North Korean doctors lead plane-crash survivors in Africa.
- General Loser and the Gnats2005 · graphic novelSatire in which Americans named Bush turn to the revolutionary cause.
- Conviction and the Detective신념과 탐정2006 · comic book seriesPicture-book series that sold in large numbers in Pyongyang.
The people to know
- Cho Pyong-kwonCredited author of Great General Mighty Wing.
- Rim Wal-yongIllustrator of Great General Mighty Wing.
- Ri Chol-geunCo-creator of Blizzard in the Jungle.
- Jo Hak-raeCo-creator of Blizzard in the Jungle.
- Eom Jeong-huiCo-creator of The Secret of Frequency A.
- Ko Im-hongCo-creator of The Secret of Frequency A.
- Choi Seong-guk최성국Former North Korean studio artist; first defector to author a webtoon.