Love Story Unveils Glimpses Inside North Korea
In the midst of COVID-19, much of the world is at a stand-still. The DPRK border is completely closed, making trips into North Korea currently impossible. Our humanitarian organization, Ignis Community, is in the process of shipping much-need medical and rehabilitation equipment to the capital city of Pyongyang, but our humanitarian workers are still waiting for Special Validation Passports from the US State Department. Knowing that the North Korean border is closed, all our applications are paused, and it is uncertain when the borders will reopen for our team to go inside the DPRK.
Anything that reminds us of North Korea elicits memories of our time spent living inside the country. How are our North Korean counterparts holding up in the midst of this lockdown? Are children with developmental disabilities continuing to receive the treatment that they need? As a humanitarian organization, how can we continue to provide life-saving aid despite COVID-19 restrictions? The questions are abundant, but the answers are sparse. Anything we watch that resembles life in North Korea is a welcomed reminder for us to continue to press forward in providing assistance to some of the most vulnerable children in the DPRK.
As mentioned in my previous post, a popular Korean drama in 2020 is “Crash Landing on You” and takes place in North Korea. This 16-episode drama series is primarily a dramatic romantic comedy between a North and South Korean. The story, background, and details, even though all fictional, provide great entertainment.
The main plot of the TV series is about a rich South Korean woman who becomes stranded along the border in North Korea due to a paragliding accident. The first season primarily takes place in North Korea as this South Korean woman, with the help of some North Korean soldiers, attempts to return back to her home down South. From her experiences in North Korea, unique cultural and linguistic differences arise between the two Koreans.
From my ten plus years in North Korea, I have daily experience with several of the locations that are depicted in the show. Although the producers do their best to honor the North Korean context, I can testify that not all the details are accurate, particularly since the drama was not filmed on scene. In addition, many of the cultural details are off. For example, most of the scenes are more lavish than they are in reality. North Korean women typically do not wear bright colored clothing, and the elite in North Korea are not as well-off as the drama would have you think. The mannerisms and personalities of the people in the TV series reflect South Korean culture more than North Korean culture. And although the drama does attempt to try to emulate the North Korean dialect and reflect some aspects of North Korean life, by in large, it is a show based on drama not reality.
However, the TV series is worth watching not just for its entertainment value but also for what it does accurately depict about North Korea and her people. How North and South Koreans interact in this love story provides a unique glimpse inside the DPRK.
The Main Characters in “Crash Landing on You”
1. North Koreans are people just like you and me.
When the main character finds herself stranded in North Korea, hanging precariously from branches high above the ground, she encounters a DPRK military captain patrolling the 38th Parallel. Immediately, he holds her up at gun point. But with her feminine charm and wit, she talks her way out of being arrested when the captain accidentally steps on a land mine. Comical series of events lead to the young woman taking refuge at the captain’s home while he attempts to smuggle her back to South Korea.
During her stay in North Korea, the main character becomes somewhat integrated into the local village. Forced to explain her presence, the captain deflects attention by telling the village that she is his fiancé. Protected by a small cohort of the captain’s most trustworthy soldiers, she discovers friendship not just with her protectors but also with a group of women in the village.
The drama is ultimately a love story between a South Korean woman and a North Korean man. Despite their political and cultural divides, these two people from two different worlds find common humanity in each other. The nuances of their relationship reveal that North Koreans are simply people just like you and me. Just as in Discovering Joy: Ten Years in North Korea, the story attempts to depict life from a North Korean’s point of view, and it emphasizes the importance of building trust through relationship. In the end, the main characters end up providing for each other, protecting one another, and even selflessly sacrificing to preserve their love.
2. North Koreans are bright and extremely resourceful.
As North Korean society is less technologically advanced than South Korea’s, the drama shows how common North Korean people deal with life’s daily challenges. Instead of using refrigeration, meat is wrapped in paper and kept in salt bins to preserve the food until it is cooked. A father borrows a truck battery to produce electricity in the home for his son to do his homework at night. A plastic basin covered by an air-tight clear tarp maintains the temperature of water heated over an open fire in order to enjoy a hot, steamy bath. Microchips are concealed within the hardware of mechanical watches to keep information out of the wrong hands. Stationary bikes are ridden throughout the night to recharge the battery needed to power their favorite TV drama.
North Koreans may not have access to all the modern technologies that South Koreans do, but they know how to adapt and make the best of their circumstances. In many ways, North Koreans are extremely cunning in the way that they problem-solve and creatively find solutions.
Assimilating into the Community and Grilling Meat Over a Coal Fire
3. North Koreans have a strong sense of community.
Community is front and center in North Korean society. The demands of the country often out-weigh the needs at home, spouses and families spend much time apart as it is one of the strongest collectivistic cultures in the world. In most countries, a person’s spare time is mostly spent at home with family, but in North Korea more time is spent within the community than with the nuclear family.
“Crashing Landing on You” bases much of its story line upon this community aspect. Standard service time in the military is ten years. Fellow soldiers become brothers, and much of the service man’s time is spent serving the needs of his superior. Instead of spending time alone at home, homemakers do most household tasks together in community. Kimchee or basic side dishes are prepared for the entire community in a neighborhood event. Even laundry is a community task by washing clothes together in the local stream or at one of the few running faucets in town. Neighbors care for each other, feeding each other after long trips and protecting one another in times of crisis.
4. North Koreans do have some limited international experience and understanding.
The drama begins after two of the main characters have returned home from their studies abroad. One studied music in Switzerland; whereas the other studied in Russia. As a result, these two characters are somewhat more sophisticated and aware of foreign food, items, and cultures outside of their own country. They speak foreign languages and own foreign products.
Although many North Koreans do not have the opportunity to travel, work, or study abroad, there are a substantial number who do. North Koreans often work abroad in countries like China, Russia, in Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. In addition, many North Koreans have studied abroad in countries such as India, China, Germany, Switzerland, and even Sweden.
Our non-profit organization, Ignis Community, has also been able to sponsor short-term study abroad programs for North Korean doctors. Although the trainings we have done so far have mostly been restricted to 10-14 days abroad, future plans include host long-term studies abroad. Thus far, Ignis Community has brought North Korean doctors to study in the Philippines, Hong Kong, and China.
5. North and South Koreans have more in common than they have differences.
The second half of the drama series switches gears by changing the setting to South Korea. Due to elaborate dramatic circumstances, North Koreans end up in South Korea, and viewers get to see not only how a South Korean acclimates to North Korean life but how North Koreans adapt to South Korea. Many aspects of South Korean society shock the North Koreans, and although initially tentative, they are quick to assimilate.
The North Korean soldiers, in particularly, learn to love famous South Korean fried chicken. In one scene, while the group is at a local chicken restaurant, a soccer match is playing on the restaurant’s television. At first, the North Koreans make fun of the South Koreans for being so interested in something as trivial as a soccer match. But when they discover that the match is against their common rival Japan, the North Koreans quickly join in on the fanatic cheering. They soon discover themselves even chanting for their South Korean brothers.
This is one simple scene in a drama series, but it displays how Koreans are simply Korean whether they come from the North or the South. Out of thousands of years of shared history, it is only in the recent past seventy years that North and South Korea have been divided as they are today. In the end, North and South Koreans share more in common than they do differences. Rather than focusing on the details that continue to separate the two countries, the North and the South should try to find common ground in the vast, myriad of ways they share common identity, history, and culture as descendants of the Land of the Morning Calm. “Crash Landing on You” is a simple love story, but it also shows the unlimited possibilities of what might be possible if North and South Koreans were able to meet each other face-to-face as fellow countrymen apart from the current deep political divide.