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North Korea Claims Moral High Ground Over Squid Game, Which They’ve Also Banned

But doesn’t the show also criticize North Korea? Yes, but the people of North Korea don’t know that.

Credit: Netflix

The show, along with all South Korean media, is banned in the country. But the North Korean propaganda machine jumped on the Squid Game bandwagon. They argue the show exposes the latent inferiority of the South Korean system. But doesn’t the show also criticize North Korea? Yes, but the people of North Korea don’t know that.

If you’ve been on the internet over the month of October, you’ve likely heard of Squid Game. The K-drama is a pop-culture sensation, exploding in popularity worldwide. The show follows a Battle Royale style plot, where its central characters play in a series of death games. It deconstructs the genre slightly by making the characters voluntary participants, hoping to win the games for a substantial cash prize.

Credit: Youtube/Netflix

The show is a flagrant critique of capitalism, specifically South Korea’s class divide and military. Its popularity likely arose from the success of Parasite, a South Korean picture that explores similar themes and won an Oscar in 2019.

Naturally, the popularity of Squid Game has led to everyone talking about it all the time. This article is one of many on this website, for example. The show has iconic artistic design and characters, entertaining premises to reenact on TikTok, and interesting themes that lend to critical analysis. The show has quickly become Netflix’s biggest series launch as of Wednesday.

You can tell how popular the show is from how many tik tok compilations there are. That is the only metric.
Credit: Screenshot of Youtube

Of course, there are pros and cons to popularity. Attention to foreign media and conversation about its societal critiques helps diversify the media sphere. On the other hand, countries and companies are running with the show’s popularity, shoving the show’s actual critiques under the bus.

North Korean media has decided to do something similar. Propaganda outlet Arirang Meari has spoken on Squid Game, using its themes to prove that the South Korean reality is “the law of the jungle.”  

The article contrasts the “South Korean reality” of Squid Game with the apparent superior reality of North Korea. While Squid Game shows the mistreatment of labourers and poor people by the South Korean government and economy, North Korea claims to have far better treatment of its workers and citizens. For example, North Korean orphans are kept in line through “volunteer” child labor groups .

They’re also banned from watching the show for themselves, with North Korean laws heaving strict punishments against those who broadcast South Korean pop culture media.

If you’ve watched Squid Game, you’d know that while the show does offer a strict critique of South Korean society, it also critiques North Korea. One of its main characters, Sae-byeok, is literally a North Korean defector, and her motivation surrounds helping the rest of her family also leave the country. Her personality is paranoid and untrusting by nature, likely because of her traumatic history living in North Korea.

Sae-byeok and her little brother, who has to be in an orphanage after leaving the North. The show actually argues for more support for defectors, despite North Korea’s take.
Credit: Youtube/Obsessions

So no, the show doesn’t prove North Korea’s inherent superiority to its neighbour.

Of course, totalitarian countries aren’t the only ones misusing the popularity of Squid Game for selfish use.

For example, Hyundai is advertising its cars with iconic Squid Game imagery, though the main character’s backstory involves a strike crackdown at a car manufacturing company. It doesn’t help that Hyundai’s workers have gone on strike themselves this year.

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