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December 23, 2024

About the author

Tatiana Gabroussenko

Tatiana Gabroussenko

Tatiana Gabroussenko obtained her PhD in East Asian Studies at the Australian National University. She is currently a professor of North Korean studies at Korea University, Seoul. Her latest book, "Soldiers on the Cultural Front: Developments in the Early History of North Korean Literature and Literary Policy," was included in the Choice magazine list of Outstanding Academic Titles of 2012.

More articles by 'Tatiana Gabroussenko'

Respect your elders… or not: ageism in North Korean mass culture

Respect your elders… or not: ageism in North Korean mass culture

Portrayals of the elderly have changed over the decades, and according to the political needs of the leadership

Respect your elders… or not: ageism in North Korean mass culture
Mad scientists, DPRK-style: geniuses on the North Korean screen

Mad scientists, DPRK-style: geniuses on the North Korean screen

In the Kim Jong Il era, scientists were portrayed as devoted to their work and leader - even at the expense of family

Mad scientists, DPRK-style: geniuses on the North Korean screen
Tatiana Gabroussenko
Tatiana Gabroussenko April 8, 2020
End of an era: Choe Chang Su, the North Korean “people’s actor,” passes away

End of an era: Choe Chang Su, the North Korean “people’s actor,” passes away

Hailing from humble roots, Choe became a fixture of the DPRK silver screen under Kim Jong Il

End of an era: Choe Chang Su, the North Korean “people’s actor,” passes away
Tatiana Gabroussenko
Tatiana Gabroussenko February 26, 2020
Unconverted political prisoners, and inter-Korean romance, in DPRK fiction

Unconverted political prisoners, and inter-Korean romance, in DPRK fiction

Stories based (very) loosely on the real-life repatriations of prisoners from South to North became popular in the 2000s

Unconverted political prisoners, and inter-Korean romance, in DPRK fiction
Tatiana Gabroussenko
Tatiana Gabroussenko January 31, 2020
Changing narratives of adoption in North Korean mass culture

Changing narratives of adoption in North Korean mass culture

Following the famine of the 1990s, North Korean films increasingly promoted individuals adopting orphaned children

Changing narratives of adoption in North Korean mass culture
Tatiana Gabroussenko
Tatiana Gabroussenko December 20, 2019
Shaking the people’s paradise: Ri Chung Gu’s subversive North Korean anti-heroes

Shaking the people’s paradise: Ri Chung Gu’s subversive North Korean anti-heroes

Reflecting the changing times, one DPRK writer sought to portray more believable juche apostates

Shaking the people’s paradise: Ri Chung Gu’s subversive North Korean anti-heroes
Tatiana Gabroussenko
Tatiana Gabroussenko October 21, 2019
“Kings of the country”: growing up in North Korea isn’t always as bad as you’d think

“Kings of the country”: growing up in North Korea isn’t always as bad as you’d think

Children in the DPRK enjoy more freedom and less mollycoddling from parents than kids in the West

“Kings of the country”: growing up in North Korea isn’t always as bad as you’d think
Tatiana Gabroussenko
Tatiana Gabroussenko September 18, 2019
“Brothers”: the banned North Korean-Soviet film ruined by Juche politics

“Brothers”: the banned North Korean-Soviet film ruined by Juche politics

A jointly-produced movie, the first of its kind, showed just how strict the DPRK really was

“Brothers”: the banned North Korean-Soviet film ruined by Juche politics
Tatiana Gabroussenko
Tatiana Gabroussenko August 13, 2019
Dangerous myths: why North Korean culture idolizes the Koguryo period

Dangerous myths: why North Korean culture idolizes the Koguryo period

DPRK-made cartoons often distort historical reality and perpetuate nationalist falsehoods

Dangerous myths: why North Korean culture idolizes the Koguryo period
Domestic strivers as anti-heroines: household chores in North Korean movies

Domestic strivers as anti-heroines: household chores in North Korean movies

DPRK official culture long treated women's work at home as second class

Domestic strivers as anti-heroines: household chores in North Korean movies