North Korea



"You almost get the feeling that [Kim Il-sung] was handed a copy of 1984 in Korean that year and asked, "Do you think we could make this work?" And he thought, "Well I don't know, but we can sure give it the old college try.""

- Christopher Hitchens, noting the coincidence that North Korea was formally established in 1948, the same year 1984 was written (although the book was published next year)

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea, far better known as North Korea, is a pseudo-socialist state in East Asia which controls much of the northern Korean peninsula. A highly isolationist and rigidly controlled society, it has reasonable relations with its powerful northern neighbour, the People's Republic of China and unbelievably terrible relations with its southern neighbour, the Republic of Korea and just generally bad relations with everyone else. It also possesses one of the largest armies in the world, and holds the record for highest military spending as percentage of GDP - so much, that rather than a third-world country with a military, it can be better described as a military with a country - but there's no need to worry because the army is so badly equipped.

Generally featured in fiction as Acceptable Political Targets and a sort of Captain Ersatz for China, as both happen to be a) East Asian, and b) "communist" (while China itself is a major economic power with a growing media industry, and doesn't take too kindly to Yellow Peril portrayals). There have been some interesting non-fictional works made about the DPRK, such as propaganda films and documentaries from survivors of the regime.

The late second North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-il was pretty much real-life Dr. Evil and actually a James Bond fan. (Except Die Another Day, obviously;) He died in December 2011, with the announcement coming a couple of days after the fact, having reigned since his father's death in 1994. North Korean state media announced that he will be succeeded by his youngest son, Kim Jong-un. It should be noted that neither Kim Jong-il nor Kim Jong-un were given the title "head of state", that title still belongs to Kim Il-Sung... who died in 1994. They take his title as the "Eternal President" very seriously.

The Real Life DPRK provides examples of:

 * A Nazi By Any Other Name: The ideology of North Korea is a perverse form of racist nationalism, where they view themselves as the purest race on earth. The DPRK regime has more in common with Nazi Germany than it does with any so-called-communist dictatorship. The racism in the country is at an almost mind-boggling level--a black Cuban diplomat was almost lynched when he tried to show his family the sights of Pyongyang. The few North Korean women who return pregnant from China--the regime's main ally and protector--are forced to have abortions.
 * When a group of diplomats from the GDR traveled to the DPRK in the 1960s, they commented that the country resembled Nazi era Germany.
 * When the Japanese national soccer / football team played in North Korea in 2011, naturalized Zainichi Korean Tadanari Lee was pointedly referred to only as "Tadanari" by the North Koreans. The reasoning goes that bringing up his Korean heritage would cause the spectators to see him as a race traitor for playing for Japan--the country of both his birth and citizenship, mind you--and be inclined to give him a lynching.
 * Ironically subverted with their rocket program; whereas Germany's V-2 program was functional and a real threat to surrounding countries, North Korea can't even get their rockets to stay together in midair (Unha-3 being their latest effort).
 * Acceptable Political Targets
 * A God Am I / God-Emperor: Kim Il-Sung, and later his son, Kim Jong-Il, who rule over and are (all but) worshiped in North Korea. (Note the present tense on "rule". Though Kim Il-Sung died in 1994, he retains his position as "Eternal President"). They have assembled a cult of personality revolving around the eldest Kim's revolutionary activities and the "successes" of the North Korean economic system. See the first option of the second sentence of this trope page for more information.
 * A few journalists have reported that they are directly worshiped, or at least prayed to.
 * Children are taught to thank the Great Leader and Dear Leader before eating.
 * There is apparently also a widespread belief that Kim Il-sung created the world.
 * Now we will see if Kim Jong-Il gets "Eternal Vice President".
 * Apparently his titles (he get's a two-fer) are "Eternal General Secretary of the Workers' Party" and "Eternal Chairman of the National Defence Commission". Personally I don't think either have the same ring to it.
 * Big Blackout: There's a rather famous image of the Korean Peninsula at night, with the North being almost completely dark (except for Pyongyang), but the South is lit up like a Christmas tree.
 * Big Brother Is Watching
 * Blatant Lies: Unsurprising both towards their own people and the rest of the world. From claims of having researched nuclear fusion to propaganda videos of soldiers smashing tanks in half, North Korea has lied to anyone and everyone at least once or twice.
 * This extends inside the leadership. Several defectors have said that various agencies and the military report fake results to avoid being sent to a re-education camp.
 * They are also quite capable of making fools of themselves this way. They actually painted a cave black so they can claim it contains rich amounts of coal.
 * This cave incident is particularly Egregious, considering two things. Firstly, the context in which this happened, South Korea discovered a tunnel leading under the border into their country from the north, leading North Korea to declare that the tunnel was absolutely not a route to invade South Korea and was totally a legitimate coal mine. Secondly, North Korea is a coal-producing nation, so not only should they know better than to think anybody at all would fall for this, but they had access to actual coal that they could have, at the very least, planted in the cave.
 * The 'coal tunnel' pales in comparision to the archaeology finds that magically appear when needed. When the goverment needs evidence that King X or Dynasty Y was located in North Korea, such evidence appears the next day complete with photos. Then the site/scrolls are put on display.
 * Bread and Circuses: Averted. When the economy fell apart in the 1990's the government decreased rations. The result was the emergence of a black market that local officials ignored in exchange for bribe money.
 * The result of which is described in one of Christopher Hitchens' lectures, where he mentions that the current generation has been stunted by growing up under truly appalling famine conditions; at the border with South Korea, the North Koreans try to be intimidating by posting their biggest, toughest-looking soldiers... who are six inches shorter than the South Koreans.
 * Crapsack World: One of the worst.
 * Crap Saccharine World: On the North Korea side of the demilitarized zone is Kijŏng-dong, a nice, brightly colored town visible to the South that blasted the "greatness" of the North Korea over loudspeakers 20 hours a day directed South in attempt to get defectors. On closer inspection with binoculars and telescopes, it shows that the "buildings" are little more then building shaped concrete shells. Military personnel at the DMZ have reported seeing "citizens" bused into the area late at night in order to make the town look populated during the day.
 * Similar shell towns adorn the narrower parts of North Korea's border with China, occasionally peppered with actual communes.
 * Crowning Moment of Funny: From the Wikipedia page about the 2010 FIFA World Cup: "Korea DPR coach, Kim Jong-Hun, informed the media that he received 'regular tactical advice during matches' from Kim Jong-Il 'using mobile phones that are not visible to the naked eye' and purportedly developed by the Supreme Leader himself."
 * Made even funnier by the fact that they lost miserably.
 * However, they did give Brazil a very good game, losing only 2-1 to the world's then number 1 ranked team (North Korea then being ranked 105th).
 * Followed up by the following year's Womens World Cup, as after a 2-0 opening loss to the United States, the North Korean head coach claimed that his players weren't playing well because they'd been struck by lightning earlier in the month. FIFA officials have so far been unable to confirm reports of any lightning strikes. They did discover evidence of doping, leading to bans for multiple players and North Korea itself.
 * Compensating for Something: Visitors are constantly reminded that the Pyongyang Arc of Victory is bigger than the one in Paris, and the flagpole with the North Korean flag bordering the DMZ is the third tallest in the world. They used to avoid mentioning the Ryugyong Hotel but since construction resumed, they are keener to remind that when it is completed, it will be the tallest hotel in the world.
 * Another was the worlds tallest flag poll in Kijŏng-dong, which quickly became a war of the flag, as the South built a taller one on their side of the border, and both started to trying to make their own poll taller than the others.
 * Defictionalization : Honestly, it's as if the rulers of the country were actively trying to make it as close as possible to Oceania from 1984.
 * Dystopia Is Hard/ Reality Ensues: It also shows just how poorly run Oceania really is (in that it keeps the people in line, barely, and that's about it).
 * Egopolis: Pyongyang, the capital city, has pretty much been rebuilt as a tribute to Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il.
 * The Cult Of Personality in North Korea is so widespread that propaganda celebrating the Kim family is legally required to displayed nearly everywhere.
 * Christopher Hitchens stated that when he managed to get permission to visit North Korea with some of his friends, one of them claimed that when he went to the zoo the parrot started singing Kim Jong-il's praises! Whether it had actively been taught to do this, or had just heard it so often over the loudspeakers that it learned on its own is anyone's guess.
 * Enemy Mine: North Korea's hatred of the USA was toned down for a brief moment in 2007, when a US Navy vessel assisted in the rescue of a North Korean vessel from Somali pirates.
 * Not that 99% of North Korea's population even knew about that part. It was all because their Supreme Leader swam down there, and rescued the vessel Beowulf-style.
 * Epic Fail: Their April 2012 attempt to use a rocket to "launch a satellite" to commemorate Kim Il-sung's birthday crashed into the sea just over a hundred miles from its starting point. Surprisingly, North Korea has publicly admitted that it failed, rather than use one of their usual pathetic excuses. Nonetheless, various figures around the world are concerned about what they might do to reinvigorate morale after the humiliation, with many suspecting another shell attack on South Korea or nuclear test might happen in the near future.
 * Evil Tower of Ominousness: It may not be Kim Jong Il's headquarters but the Ryugyong Hotel fits the bill in every other way, towering over Pyongyang skyline, its pyramid-like shape too similar to Orwell's depictions on Oceania's ministries in 1984 to be even remotely funny.
 * Hereditary Republic: Kim Jong-il was the son of Kim Il-sung. After Kim Jong-il's death, his third son, Kim Jong-un was announced as the "Great Successor".
 * Hit So Hard the Calendar Felt It / Microts / Alternative Calendar: Juche calendar is used in parallel with the Western calendar and takes Kim Il Sung's date of birth as its starting point. 2012 in North Korea is a big deal because it marks his 100th birthday.
 * Irony: For a nation running under an ideology of self-reliance, they do an admirably horrible job of feeding their own citizens. Apparently the hardships are necessary to keep citizens from falling into the "weaknesses" that come in societies with abundance. It is as perverse as it sounds.
 * You think that's funny? They can't even finish the Ryugyong Hotel themselves; they had to hire out to an Egyptian construction firm in order to continue building. And it only took two percent of the GDP to get it up in the first place.
 * Even funnier is that, despite its fanatical obsession with its own military (such that Killzone reportedly took inspiration for the Helghast from it), it's actually one of the most poorly trained and equipped in the world. Similar to World War II Soviet Russia, the bulk of the Korean People's Army are conscripts that are essentially given a uniform and (sometimes) a gun and sent out to duty (though not without absolute loyalty to the Eternal President and the state being drilled into them beforehand), while their reserve forces are essentially kids and elderly with bladed weapons. Their tech pool is little more than Cold War era vehicles and weapons, usually hand me downs from Russia or China, that are given sporatic "upgrades" as time goes on (more hand me downs from China really). The Korean People's Army Air Force still uses mostly Mi G-21 "Fishbeds" (a Vietnam era fighter), with their most advanced fighters being a dozen or so Mi G-29 "Fulcrums" used to defend Pyongyang's air space, and the Korean People's Army Naval Force is a green water navy that constitutes a few diesel submarines and corvettes. Overall, they're hardly the military superpower they tout themselves to be (shock and surprise).
 * There's also points in North Korea's overly revised history that are so ironic they're laughable. One such case is their depiction of the Battle of Chumonchin Chan, the only major battle between surface combatants of the Korean War. The North Koreans' claim is that they managed to sink a US heavy cruiser, the USS Baltimore, with a combined charge with torpedo boats. In reality, the USS Baltimore never took part in the Korean War (the actual ship encountered was the USS Juneau, a light cruiser), and while the North Koreans did mount an attack with their torpedo boats, they were easily obliterated with a salvo from the Juneau (alongside her British compatriots HMS Black Swan and HMS Jamaica) before they could launch their torpedos. Only one torpedo boat survived the attack, and it is now housed in the Museum of Victory of the Fatherland Liberation War, commemorated for "sinking the Baltimore".
 * Even worse is the fact that the Baltimore was decommissioned three years AFTER the war ended.
 * Kangaroo Court: the witchhunts against the suspected enemies of the state were a combination of the Red Scare and strict background checks. The trials ranged from execution for theft, being released to avoid overcrowding, and being arrested for a false crime since the police would steal evidence and sell it on the black market.
 * After the economy started to implode in the 1990's the legal code began to be selectively enforced. Bribery become the only way to get anything done. For the correct amount of money or merchandise nearly anything can be done and the local officials will ignore it as long as the black market is discreet.
 * One black market operation fell apart because of the people involved. A train official, who seized evidence from smugglers, was arrested for embezzlement because he arrested a smuggler working for a minister. The lower ranked official then bribed his way out of a major prison sentence, instead of a political prison he was sent to a prison for regular criminals.
 * Moral Myopia: The North Korean government, like most of the rest of the world, were horrified by the 9/11 attacks on America and offered condolences, conveniently ignoring the fact that their actions are as bad, if not worse.
 * So much worse...
 * Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: The Demilitarized Zone has become a sanctuary for endangered species.
 * No Indoor Voice: The country's website seems to be at least trying this - a cursory examination of its source code yields a ridiculous number of HTML tags stacked on top of each other...
 * Our Presidents Are Different: Kim Jong-Un, so very much. In fact, he's technically not even president; the actual title of (Eternal) President of the Republic belongs to Kim Il Sung, his grandfather. Who passed away in 1994. It is unknown how much respect he will command from the people if Korea can't start at least acknowledging that a person can't be a president and be dead at the same time.
 * Patriotic Fervour: Of the "hating other countries" kind, not just loving their own.
 * People's Republic of Tyranny: Probably one of the best modern examples in just how long its name is. The usual joke being that the country is neither democratic, nor belongs to the people. It is not a republic (a non-hereditary head of state is the defining criterion of a republic), and does not even take up the whole of the Korean peninsula in the first place.
 * Posthumous Character: The aforementioned Kim Il Sung. No, we're not kidding. North Korea has the dubious distinction of being the only country with a dead guy as president.
 * Permanent Elected Official: Kim Il-sung. He was proclaimed Eternal President Of The Republic in 1994--the year he died.
 * It's happened again with Kim Jong-il- he was made Eternal General Secretary of the Korean Workers' Party on April 11, 2012.
 * Propaganda Machine: The entire state news apparatus, Minitrue and Miniplenty would be proud.
 * Reality Is Unrealistic: Pretty much all appearances of North Korea in fiction show an extremely toned-down version. Or an extremely over-exaggerated version. (As far as we know, the DPRK army still do not have the technology to outfit their crack troops with powered armour nanosuits.)
 * Schizo Tech: Their air force includes some relatively modern jet fighters, as well as MiG-15s (the Soviet jet fighters that fought in the Korean War), and even biplanes. Pretty much, given their position and economic situation, they use whatever they can get.
 * This was parodied in M*A*S*H with Five O'Clock Charlie, a North Korean pilot who regularly performed bombing raids on an ammo dump next to the 4077th...with an open cockpit monoplane and hand dropped bombs. Even funnier was that his attacks were so inaccurate, the 4077th personnel (and at least one General) took bets on how far off his bombs would land from his target.
 * Many people who defect from or visit North Korea have reported that it resembles the Victorian era or the Edwardian era in technology and architecture.
 * It is not always that old. Other tourists report that the areas outside the capital city resemble South Korea of the 1950's and 1960's.
 * Schmuck Bait: Kijŏng-dong. See description in Crapsaccharine World entry above.
 * Screw the Rules, I Have A Nuke: Oh, do they want to pull this.
 * Sealed Army in A Can: Kinda. While it's not a tiny country on the level of Monaco or such, it has the world's 4th largest army, and has enough missiles and heavy artillery pointed at Seoul to wipe out the city in 30 seconds.
 * However, while the nation does spend a fourth of its GDP on its military, South Korea spends more on its military than the North's TOTAL GDP.
 * Also, as noted under above under Irony, North Korea's army may be massive, but it's almost laughably badly equipped.
 * Secret Police: In addition to the regular secret police, there also exists a system of civilian informers called the Inminban. Any remarks, jokes or utterances that come anywhere near criticising the regime are reported.
 * Socialist Realism
 * So Bad It's Good: While life inside North Korea is like hell on earth for the most part, the stuff that comes out in their state-controlled media and the things they do to show they are all usually good for a few laughs.
 * State Sec: ever since the economy began to fall apart in the early 1990's the military has shown signs of this. Black markets have appeared that are run solely by the army and navy. Also, the secret police agencies are involved in black market activities such as the printing of superdollars.
 * Strawman News Media: type 2. 91% of all media reporting is about how the Kim family is invincible and all-knowing.
 * Studio SEK: North Korea's only (?) animation studio, the studio has done stuff for the North Korean market and has done some co-productions like Empress Chung (a co-production with AKOM (yes, that AKOM)), but has mostly has done outsourcing for South Korean studios that get their contracts from the US (as the US blocked shipping stuff over to North Korea like with Cuba) like with Digital E Mation (BillyAndMandy's Big Boogey Adventure The Movie), JM Animation (most of the 3th season of Avatar: The Last Airbender) Rough Draft (Futurama: Bender's Big Score and The Simpsons Movie ) and others; However, the studio went out of business in late 2010 due to the government's lack of money (as the studio was owned by North Korea's government).
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Some official North Korean releases have taken to billing Kim Jong-un as going to be identical to his father in terms of how he runs the country. They do look pretty physically similar, Kim Jong-il's dead status and advanced age aside.
 * Both North Koreans and outside observers noted that Jong-un looked like his grandfather when the latter was of his age.
 * The Gulag: No surprise here.
 * Ungrateful Bastard: The Chinese and Soviet assistance during the Korean War is barely acknowledged in the DPRK. Some of their internal propaganda actually claims that their assistance was motivated by self-interest, thus does not count.
 * Their attitude towards Chinese and Russian backing following the Cheonan incident wasn't any different.
 * Whenever there was a border incident the Soviet Union pressured North Korea to be diplomatic and avoid escalation. Moscow had enough problems in the Eastern Bloc and knew when to compromise.
 * After the Rangoon bombing China refused to speak to North Korean officials and Burma severed all diplomatic relations.
 * The trams, subway cars, and buses always have any foreign identification removed from them. That way the government can say the Chinese bus or Russian subway car was made in North Korea.
 * For most of its history North Korea depended on foreign aid from Communist states to keep the economy running. However, this was never officially acknowledged. The Soviet Union ignored this ungrateful behavior because they needed North Korea as a buffer state and did not want them to ally with China. After the Soviet Union collasped North Korea suffered economic disaster as Russia and China began demanding that any payments be on time and all friendship prices were revoked.
 * North Korea ordered clocks from a Swiss company in the 1970's and later refused to pay the bill.
 * Any food aid is labeled as war reparations or was said to be stolen from American military bases.
 * As noted above under A Nazi By Any Other Name, any North Korean women who come back from China pregnant are given forced abortions to keep the gene pool pure.
 * Vetinari Job Security: the surrounding nations still support North Korea because they do not want to deal with a refugee crisis or possible civil war between the military and secret police. However, China wants North Korea to cease the border incidents and instead promote regional stability. Japan and South Korea have increasingly taken hard-line positions and increased military spending.
 * Walk Into Mordor: A few enterprising traders have tried to conduct business in North Korea, as have foreign diplomats from time to time. The New York Philharmonic visited in 2008.
 * There has been two special economic zones established, although they haven't been as successful as those in China or Vietnam because most businessmen aren't going to do business with North Korea.
 * Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: While they are certainly not the majority, there are a significant number of people in South Korea who view Kim Jong Il and North Korea as freedom fighters. This also applies to the North itself. They believe any hostilities from the North are a direct cause of aggression from the United States, the South Korean government, Japan, or a combination thereof. The stories of human rights violations are products of South Korean or American propaganda. There are even some religious leaders who share these views in light of "rumors" of religious oppression.
 * Zeerust: There is a state museum in Pyongyang which displays such wonders as outdated cell phones and toaster ovens; sadly, even these are far beyond the reach of ordinary North Koreans. If you want a good view of how stagnant and technologically backwards North Korean society really is, check out the DPRK's official website.

Other notes about North Korea

 * Korean Honorifics
 * The Korean War
 * North Koreans With Nodongs

Notes about the recently late Dictator Supreme Leader Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il.
""An imaginary man who receives blame for problems he didn't even cause. Some people confuse this obscure character with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. The last letter of the man's name is an 'L', not an 'i'.""
 * Adult Child: His palace has a waterslide and a pool in it. Seriously.
 * Boring Invincible Hero: Supposedly, if his biographies are to be believed.
 * His biographies aren't taken at face value by the North Koreans. They don't believe he actually has all those magical abilities, but many of them believe those stories reflect his heroic personality.
 * The Caligula
 * Cloudcuckoolander: On one occasion, he left his tightly guarded hotel while visiting China to go to the grocery store and buy salad dressing ... surrounded by bodyguards, of course.
 * Cool Train: Kim Jong-il had his own private armored train which he used to go to China.
 * Crowning Music of Awesome: Jong-il's signature tune, No Motherland Without You.
 * Dead Guy Junior
 * Dead Guy On Display: His body was presented in a glass coffin for all to see during his funeral.
 * Evil Overlord: To the North Koreans.
 * Faux Affably Evil
 * Killed Off for Real
 * I Read That As: His name is sometimes mistakenly pronounced as "Kim Jong the second" rather than "Kim Jong il". As an UrbanDictionary editor puts it:


 * I Have You Now, My Pretty: Allegedly, several Korean women have been raped by him. Not surprising at all, since no woman in North Korea would ever dream of saying "no" to the Dear Leader.
 * Idiot Ball: The rest of the world seemed to carry it whenever they dealt with him.
 * Mysterious Past: His exact birthday and birthplace. Kim Jong-il's official biography places the year at 1942 and the location somewhere in Baekdu, the tallest mountain in the Korean peninsula, while Soviet records place his birth at 1941 and in Vyatskoye, a tiny Russian fishing village near the city of Khabarovsk. Either way, both accounts agree on the month and day of his birthday -- February 16 -- as well as the fact that he was born inside a camp of Chinese-Korean La Résistance fighters against the Japanese during World War Two.
 * The Napoleon: He had a venomous inferiority complex about his height. Once, the DPRK authorities put out a commercial for a drug treatment that would supposedly make you grow taller. When a whole bunch of short people called in and applied for the treatment, Kim Jong-il had them rounded up and deported to a prison labor camp.
 * Nobody Poops: Well, at least the biographies said that he didn't urinate or defecate at all.
 * One of Us: He was quite nerdy, and once claimed to have learned English by watching Star Trek, and has the unique distinction of both being a James Bond fan and strongly resembling a James Bond villain.
 * Ahem. He actually learned English while in Malta as a guest for a foreign leader.
 * He also claims to love surfing the Net, and be an expert on it. He's probably the only private person in North Korea with internet access, which by some definitions actually does make him an "expert", at least compared to everyone else in his country.
 * Overlord, Jr.: He succeeded his dad as leader of North Korea, and then he started grooming his son to be leader after his death.
 * Paid Harem: Rumor had it he traveled with a pack of beautiful women called the "Pleasure Squad".
 * President Evil: While technically not president (that honor goes to his deceased father), Kim Jong Il was the acting ruler of North Korea and very, very evil.
 * Self-Deprecation: He once asked a kidnapped South Korean woman what she thought of his physique. After a second of awkward silence in which she pondered how to answer, he said: "Small as a midget's turd, aren't I?"
 * He watched Team America World Police and found it hilarious. True story.
 * There are conflicting reports on this; it's also said that he wasn't amused and instead tried to convince the Czech Republic to ban it (for what it's worth, The Other Wiki states this to be the case).
 * Sinister Shades: As seen on that trope's page image; photos had him wearing them quite regularly. Admittedly, his appearance means he doesn't pull it off all that well...
 * The Sociopath: As his page on The Other Wiki mentions, he most likely had the "big six" group of psychological disorders shared by Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, and Saddam Hussein. Now, one of those is antisocial personality disorder, which, as the trope page mentions, is more well known as sociopathy.
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute
 * Villains Out Shopping: He owned all footage of Michael Jordan playing for the Chicago Bulls, and was delighted to receive a Jordan-autographed basketball, to the point he had a museum built specifically for its housing. He also owned a large collection of movies.

The DPRK and its inhabitants in fiction

 * Their military personnel feature as the villains of the 2002 James Bond movie Die Another Day, albeit more in a Renegade North Korean way. Interestingly, high ranking People's Liberation Army officers show up in support of the villain's plan to destroy the minefield in the south with a laser satellite.
 * Featured as the antagonists in a Captain Ersatz of sorts of the PRC in Crysis.
 * In the Dale Brown novel Battle Born, a popular revolution leads to the collapse of Communism.
 * Only the regime wasn't really communist back in Kim Il-Sung's time. He liked to paint himself Marxist, but after his death Kim Jong-Il started to distance the regime from the Communist and Socialist trappings, concentrating instead on radical nationalism and militarism. Recently, the DPRK officially dropped all mentions of Communism and Socialism from its propaganda.
 * Kim Jong-Il features in Team America: World Police.
 * Kim Jong-Il also features in the Larry Bond novel Red Phoenix.
 * The first Mercenaries game is set here, when it gets an even more 'rogue' leader. China, South Korea, Russian criminals, and a UN in all but name show up to finally bring it in line with..er, something.
 * The Legend of Koizumi has Kim Jong-Il as one of Koizumi's early opponents. He later returns.
 * North Korea will later unite with the South in Home Front under its rule and conquers most of East Asia sans China and even invades the western United States by 2027. They're the villains of Home Front, unless you play the Japanese version, wherein Canada is the Big Bad.
 * The Red Dawn remake received a last-minute edit to turn the villains from Chinese to North Koreans. The reason behind is that China makes up the second largest box office audience.
 * In World War Z the North Koreans just ... vanish. As in, one day, the US spy satellites do not pick up any activity in North Korea anymore. The likely explanation is that they retreated to underground bunkers. And no one knows if one of them was infected.
 * Kim himself makes an appearance at the end of Forum Warz, Episode 1, after you, remarking that he is impressed with your actions. He shows up again in Episode Two under the handle "KIM_SHADY", commanding you to   for him.
 * How I Met Your Mother has on several occasions mentioned or implied that the Mega Corp Barney works for has a number of illegal dealings with North Korea. At one point, Barney is chewing out a woman who pretended to be into him just so he'd give her money, saying, "At my job we don't rip people's hearts out for money. My company briefly backed a lab in North Korea that did, but we sold it!"
 * The Orphan Masters Son, a 2012 novel by Adam Johnson.