North Korean manhwas as a state instrument for propagating Juche philosophy

Abstract

It aims to correlate comics in North Korea with the sociopolitical context in which the country is historically embedded. In order to do so, we start from the premise of a presumed causal relationship between the numerous war propaganda materials in comics from Japan and the perpetuation of such media for the same purpose in the northern portion of the Korean Peninsula, given that part of the local government's policy consists of narrating the imminence of a conflict with its major global enemies. Methodologically, we employ documentary sources, essentially consisting of North Korean comics produced in the last three decades, which allow relevant interpretations of the selected theme, contextualizing the formation of that country as influenced by the deleterious Japanese military occupation. By incorporating the complexities of the current international system into the context of maintaining the local regime, it becomes possible to better understand and characterize North Korean manhwas as cultural inputs that possess a rich power of social cohesion targeting all age groups, like what occurs in more open and vibrant markets.