What Korean dramas are highly recommended by North Korea’s core class as “must watch”?

One day in November 2020, when the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) was spreading worldwide, two cars with the Safety Bureau and Provincial Party numbers stopped in front of the Department of Safety in Daehongdan County, Yanggang Province.

Not long ago, three married couples in their early and mid-60s were caught watching Korean dramas secretly by the Military Safety Department, taking advantage of the fact that outsiders were unable to access them as they were quarantined as corona suspects. There were not one or two cases of being caught by the Ministry of Security for watching Korean dramas, so what was the reason for the provincial Security Bureau and the provincial party to come down to the Military Safety Department?

North Korea closed its borders early in the early days of the Corona 19 outbreak and focused on internal quarantine. During this process, those with fevers suspected of having corona were mercilessly self-quarantined and thoroughly prevented from going out.

For residents who live day by day, the isolation period was a time of unbearable pain, but the 6th section of the Party, socialist patriotic meritorious service, and discharged military officers’ families, with state supply and certain rations guaranteed, could enjoy Korean dramas with peace of mind, avoiding sudden censorship. It was an excellent opportunity to have.

In fact, looking at the faces of the couples who were taken to the Military Security Department, one was a member of the 6th Party Division, one was a member of socialist patriotism, and the other was a discharged military officer generation. Due to the poor soundproofing of North Korean homes, the three couples were arrested by the Ministry of Security and Public Security within a day or two after reports from quarantine agency workers who had heard suspicious sounds coming from the house several times.

In the course of the investigation, the Ministry of Security and Public Safety found that those in the core class watched Korean dramas and passionately sympathized with each other while violating quarantine rules during the self-isolation period.

The military security department, which judged the matter to be serious, reported it to the upper level, and the provincial security bureau and the provincial party hurriedly came down to Daehongdan-gun to deal with the abnormal incident that occurred in the core class.

Responsible officials from the provincial security bureau and the provincial party separated the arrested couples from each other and conducted in-depth discussions. )’s life in old age, I strongly recommended that we must see each other.”

The Korean drama that they fell in love with and highly recommended was ‘Dear My Friends’, which deals with the clear life stories of the main characters entering their twilight years.

The three husbands, who were usually friends, met secretly at night to break quarantine rules during self-isolation in the early days of the corona and exchanged memories containing dramas. it turned out to be

The three wives admitted that they watched Korean dramas with their husbands during the quarantine period, and even confessed that ‘I was determined to watch it again if I hadn’t been arrested because I sympathized so much’. Also, after watching the drama, he honestly confessed the stories he and his wife shared, such as ‘Is life really a blessing and gratitude for us, just like in a soap opera?’

At the statements of these three couples, the military security department, provincial security bureau, and provincial party officials were all in a frenzy, saying, ‘What the hell are you talking about?’ In the end, on the grounds that it was necessary to know the content of the drama to accurately pre-examine and judge the statement, with the approval of the provincial party executive committee, two executives even tried running through the drama with the memory recovered.

A few months after that, all three couples were sentenced to a relatively light six-month labor training camp for being members of the core class that could be educated once in the country.

North Korea’s core class, who are said to be loyalists armed with strong ideology, were helpless in the drama that pierced their emotions. Could it be that North Korea is so wary of the Korean Wave because North Koreans are also universal human beings?