Full Description
North Korea's Nuclear Cinema examines why and how North Korea has transitioned to an image-based nuclear power in the changing context of a post-Cold War world. What exactly is the North Korean nuclear threat? Why is North Korea engaging in hostilities when its erstwhile adversaries have offered a diplomatic exit ramp? Chapter by chapter, it explains how North Korea's footage-based nuclear politics is presented as military practice, but ultimately traces its lineage to cinematic propaganda, a tradition that blurs the line between image and reality.
By leveraging cinematic resources in place of physical military mobilization, North Korea continues to move international political actors with the mere suggestion of nuclear power. At a moment when North Korea is enhancing media representation, this book dives into a timely exploration of how the regime is projecting state power as South Korean televisual media challenges the North Korean communist spectacle that has held a captive audience for decades.
Contents
Chapter 1: The Cold War
North Korea's ideology of 'Juche'
Contemporary geopolitics
Inter-Korea relations
Chapter 2: North Korea weapons as simulacra
Deterrence as simulation
Hyperreality and the North Korean state
Chapter 3: North Korea cinema and television
Kim Jong Il, 'Genius of Film'
21st-century television, digital media and YouTube
Chapter 4: The rise of South Korean pop culture
Global media flows
The 'Korean Wave' in the post-Cold War context
Pop culture in North Korea
Chapter 5: Transnational Unification
Digital debris and North Korea's markets
Corruption
Simulacra and migration
