As part of my Korean culture education, I've started watching a Korean drama. Korean culture in general is experiencing a renaissance period, partly because the digital era has made it easier to export culture profitably, and partly because the government began subsidizing it once they realized the power that soft influence brings. It's even considered a weapon against the North.
That's part of why I picked this particular Korean drama, Crash Landing on You. It's about a South Korean woman from a powerful elite business family who goes to test her business's new activewear line by going paragliding, but gets caught up in a tornado and flung across the border where she crash lands and is rescued by a handsome North Korean army captain.
What makes the series interesting to me is that the actress who plays the leading role is actually a North Korean defector. While the premise itself is pretty far-fetched, all the depictions of life in North Korea are pretty accurate because they consulted her on everything. And the role of South Korean cultural influence on life in North Korea is a recurring theme.
I imagine the producers thought a lot about the impact the show will have when it makes its way across the border. What will they think seeing a fellow North Korean who escaped to star in a South Korean TV series? The North Koreans in the show (all played by South Koreans) accuse her of spreading propaganda when she accurately describes life in Seoul, much like many of her former countrymen are sure to accuse the actress of doing. In a way they're both right; she does tell the truth about the world below the 38th parallel, and that's what makes it such potent propaganda.
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