From K-Pop to Kimchi: North Korea’s Cultural Exports

Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal, a look at North Korea’s cultural exports:

North Korea, a notoriously closed country, operates businesses beyond its borders that provide the country with much-needed revenue to prop up its cash-strapped regime. These aren’t typical foreign ventures. From a chain of restaurants to colossal monument-building projects, North Korea’s revenue sources span the globe from Asia to Africa to Europe.

Restaurants

North Korea runs restaurants in around 20 countries, which gained attention recently after 13 workers at one branch in China jointly defected. North Korea began with restaurants in China before expanding into Cambodia and later across Southeast Asia, with some as far away as the United Arab Emirates and Nepal. The restaurants each provide North Korea with an estimated $100,000-$300,000 a year. Female staff serve Korean specialties and perform costumed song-and-dance routines.

A North Korean restaurant in Dandong, China, in 2009.
A North Korean restaurant in Dandong, China, in 2009. Photo: Ng Han Guan/Associated Press
Dishes at the Pyongyang A Ri Rang Restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand.
Dishes at the Pyongyang A Ri Rang Restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand. Photo: Associated Press
The exterior of the Pyongyang A Ri Rang Restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand.
The exterior of the Pyongyang A Ri Rang Restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand. Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Performers entertain diners at the Okryugwan restaurant in Beijing.
Performers entertain diners at the Okryugwan restaurant in Beijing. Photo: Ng Han Guan/Associated Press
Statues in Africa

Known for its heroic monuments done in a style reminiscent of Soviet-era socialist realism, North Korea’s Mansudae studio is active in overseas commissions.

The studio was set up in 1959 to produce art glorifying North Korea’s leaders and now employs roughly 4,000 workers. Pyongyang’s Mansudae Grand Monument features 70-foot tall statues of the country’s founder, Kim Il Sung, and his son Kim Jong Il, the current leader’s father.

Mansudae’s Grand Monument in Pyongyang.
Mansudae’s Grand Monument in Pyongyang. Photo: kyodo/Reuters

Mansudae is particularly popular in Africa, where it has erected large-scale monuments in Namibia, Benin, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and Angola.

The African Renaissance Monument in Senegal, which at 160-feet, stands taller than the Statue of Liberty, was completed in 2010 with an official budget as $25 million, though foreign government officials estimate its cost at around $70 million. The statues’ selling point: They are big, simple and cheap.

The African Renaissance Monument in Dakar, Senegal, in 2010.

The Agostinho Neto monument in Luanda, Angola, in 2009.

A statue and mausoleum for Laurent Kabila in Kinshasa, Congo, in 2002.

A statue of Mozambique’s first president Samora Moises Machel in Maputo, Mozambique, on 2014.

The Three Dikgosi Monument (Three Chiefs Monument) in Gaborone, Botswana, in 2016.
Museums

The Angkor Panorama Museum in Cambodia is one of Mansudae’s largest foreign projects. Over 60 North Korean artists spent months creating its centerpiece, a detailed 360-degree mural depicting events from the Khmer empire.

North Korean artists helped create the Angkor Panorama Museum in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
North Korean artists helped create the Angkor Panorama Museum in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
People looking at a painting at the Angkor Panorama Museum.
People looking at a painting at the Angkor Panorama Museum.

Syria’s October War Panorama museum, which commemorates the 1973 war pitting Syria and Egypt against Israel, was built with the help of North Korea.

A young Syrian girl runs past the October War Panorama museum in Damascus, Syria, in 2003.
A young Syrian girl runs past the October War Panorama museum in Damascus, Syria, in 2003.
European Fountain

In 2005, the city of Frankfurt, Germany hired Mansudae to rebuild its “Fairy Tale Fountain,” whose bronze statues had been melted down for metal during World War II.

The “Fairy Tale Fountain” in Frankfurt, Germany, in 2015.
The “Fairy Tale Fountain” in Frankfurt, Germany, in 2015.
Tourism

International visitors represent a big potential source of foreign currency. Around 100,000 people traveled to North Korea in 2014, most of them from China. Officials hope to see 1 million visitors by 2017, according to state media reports.

Tourists board an Air Koryo plane at the Pyongyang International Airport.
Tourists board an Air Koryo plane at the Pyongyang International Airport.
Music/Performing Arts

North Korean pop group Moranbong Band traveled to Beijing last December to perform in highly-anticipated shows on what the North Korean official news agency KCNA described as a “friendship visit” to China. The shows were canceled at the last minute.

In 2012, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un formed the all-female Moranbong Band, whose high heels and short skirts contrast sharply with North Korea’s familiar dour militarism. The band’s pop performances, often attended by Mr. Kim, feature western hits such as the theme from “Rocky” and upbeat odes to North Korea’s leadership.

Members of North Korea’s popular all-female Moranbong Band performed in 2015 with the State Merited Chorus in Pyongyang.
Members of North Korea’s popular all-female Moranbong Band performed in 2015 with the State Merited Chorus in Pyongyang.


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