Increasingly over the years, North Korean defectors have cited South Korean television dramas (K-dramas for short) as an impetus for their escape from the Hermit Kingdom. The experiences of ordinary people depicted in K-dramas – romantic, uninhibited, exciting, indulgent – sow the seeds of doubt in North Koreans’ minds. Is it possible that the Great Comrade Kim Jong Un has been deliberately misleading us into believing that life beyond the nation’s borders is one of deprivation due to capitalism and hostility between foreign powers? To us, maybe K-dramas are a bit unrealistic, outlandish even. The overbearing, wealthy CEO falls in love with an ordinary, simple small-town girl. Rival high school students reconnect years later and realize they had feelings for each other all along. Rags-to-riches. Family Feuds. But to North Koreans who live under the crushing oppression of the Kim regime which watches their every move, K-dramas’ main appeal is the mundane. The scenes where characters go to coffee shops, get promotions at work, grab soju with friends and colleagues are inconceivable to North Koreans. With barely enough food to survive, and hardly any free time in the days packed with labor mobilization, slice-of-life K-dramas are more like fantasy. Once something is seen, however, it can’t be unseen, which is why defectors choose to satisfy their curiosity and escape the Hermit Kingdom. And while reaching South Korea, the place they’ve only seen on television screens, is a tremendous feat, the resettlement process can be daunting in itself, postponing defectors’ plans to fully
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