북한의 외래문화 수용 실태와 문화전략: 북한 텔레비전 방송 분석을 중심으로

Abstract

This study aims to approach North Korean society and hints of changes in theNorth Korean system by surveying changes in its cultural territory. By focusing on howNorth Korea is adapting to a powerful, centrifugal ‘threat’ of globalization triggered bya change of system and informatization and the culture of democracy widespread bysuch global culture, we intend to understand hints of changes in North Korean society. Thisstudy is ongoing, as it aims to investigate the realities of North Korea’s accommodationof foreign cultures and its cultural strategy, and has analyzed television broadcast, asource of continuous discussion. The subject of analysis is foreign-related televisionbroadcast aired by the Korean Central Television and our period of analysis lasted forfour years, ranging from January 2009 to December 2012. As 2009 was the year KimJong-Un first appeared as the successor, this study is also significant in focusing on thecultural strategy of the Kim Jong-Un era. The conclusion of this study shows that althoughNorth Korean broadcasting media is highly limited in introducing Western culture, it hasgrown to be a lot more flexible than before. While North Korea’s current official culturalstrategy forbids the inflow of foreign culture under the name of maintaining socialistnational culture against the cultural invasion of capitalism, North Korea’s considerationof the ‘global trend’ has prompted its selective introduction of culture to resolve such stateof estrangement. However, just as North Korean society’s marketization is constantlyspreading with its own power, the introduction of foreign culture powered by marketizationwill serve to pressure the North Korean government for a tepid policy change.