North Korea has ordered all writers and artists to complete an intensive ideological training course by early April, as the regime moves to tighten ideological control over the creative sector in line with resolutions from the Ninth Workers’ Party Congress, a source in Pyongyang told Daily NK on Monday.
“The party’s propaganda and agitation department and the culture ministry under the cabinet announced that all writers and artists are expected to attend an intense ideological training course by the beginning of April to help them carry out the resolutions of the Ninth Party Congress,” said the source.
The order was issued in early March, in accordance with leader Kim Jong Un’s declared drive for the “all-out development of socialism.” Its stated aims are to block the influx of foreign culture, eliminate non-socialist elements, and build a Juche culture insulated from ideological contamination.
The directive also calls for “erecting a cultural wall with South Korea” in support of the ruling party’s policy of treating North and South Korea as “two hostile states.”
“Since the state has adopted the ‘two states’ line, making a clean break with South Korean culture is no longer optional, but essential,” the source said. “Raising the cultural barrier is one of the most important steps toward achieving that separation.”
Fear behind the creative facade
The training sessions for writers and artists are focused on the need “to produce works of art and culture that can touch the people’s hearts and enhance their loyalty and to mobilize all your creative abilities toward that end.”
Training sessions have also stressed the ideological threat posed by foreign media to younger North Koreans. “The younger generation’s ideological stance is being weakened by their view of foreign countries,” participants were told. “To prevent that, writers and artists must establish culture, morals and customs unique to North Korea that are capable of overwhelming South Korea’s depraved culture.”
The order further calls on the artistic community to intensify efforts to build a personality cult around Kim Jong Un. Writers and artists are expected to complete major works this year highlighting the regime’s achievements over Kim’s 15 years in power, including a large-scale collective theater production and a novel representing the Kim era.
Any writer or artist showing signs of ideological contamination by foreign ideas faces a permanent ban from the creative domain, the source added.
“Writers and artists are trying to appear enthusiastic about creative work aimed at bringing in the golden age of Juche art under the leadership of Kim Jong Un,” the source said. “But in reality, they’re trembling with fear about losing their jobs if they deviate in the slightest degree from the principles set down by the party.”
“Since a single phrase or hair style that’s not characteristic of North Korea can be condemned as reactionary, writers and artists are obsessed with producing works that meet the party’s expectations, with little thought for their creative freedom.”
Reporting from inside North Korea
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