ⓒ UMFF

The Lion King is considered as the best Disney animated film of all time. 

Another Disney animated film Pocahontas is based on a real person. 

Did you know North Korea participated in the production of the Italian version of these big-budget American animations? A North Korea studio also took part in the production of Pororo the Little Penguin, the hugely popular South Korean animation. 

North Korea has produced animated films in collaboration with European countries such as France and Italy as well. North Korea is indeed internationally recognized for its advanced animation production techniques. 

Today, we’ll learn about North Korean animations from Professor Jeon Young-seon from the Institute for the Humanities and Unification at Konkuk University. 

North Korea’s state-run Korean Central TV aired a 3D animation titled Victory over the Oppressor Demon last year. 

In the animation, the protagonist defeats a demon that threatens village people. North Korea’s leading animation firm known as Scientific Educational Korea or SEK Studio worked on the production of the animation for 15 months. Unlike the country’s previous animated films, this work employs a variety of special effects and 3-D techniques that deliver a 360-degree view of the movements of characters. 

The animation enjoyed enormous popularity not only with children but with adults, topping the viewership list of a North Korean video-streaming app called “Mokran.” 

The Associated Press also said the Korean traditional legend about a nine-tailed fox called “gumiho” was made into a high-quality 3D animation. 

Victory over the Oppressor Demon shows many spectacular and dynamic scenes, and every movement in the animation looks so natural. Its production level is pretty high. In the initial stage, North Korea used digitally generated images for its animations. These days, 3D computer graphics are employed in animation production, and the quality of the production meets global standards. 

SEK Studio has been in charge of North Korea’s animation production over the last sixty years since it was established as an animation studio in September 1957. 

North Korea began to produce animated movies including The Golden Ax and the Silver Ax in the 1960s. North Korean animations enjoyed their heyday in the 1980s, when more than 20 works were produced each year. One of the most famous animations is Boy General. 

Boy General revolves around a young warrior named Seo-me(쇠메) in the ancient Korean kingdom of Goguryeo, who fights off repeated foreign invasions. 

North Korea believes it has inherited the historical legitimacy that passed from Gojoseon(고조선) on to Goguryeo(고구려). Therefore, it highly values the history of the Goguryeo Kingdom. The heroic warriors depicted in the animation show what the country’s cultural policy is aiming for. The story of young fighters fulfilling their mission has been used for educational purposes, instilling patriotism and dedication to the state among the public. 

Boy General ended its 50-episode run in 1997. North Korea began to make another 50 episodes in 2014, under leader Kim Jong-un’s instruction. The final 100th episode was complete in 2019. It is little wonder there are few people who haven’t seen the 100-episode animation series that aired for over three decades. A special notice of the final episode was issued before its airing, attracting a lot of attention from locals who had high expectations for the ending of the animation. 

The long-anticipated final episode came to an end, with the protagonist Seo-me beating the enemy and achieving a great victory. 

North Korean animation production techniques have developed remarkably. Having been produced for many years, Boy General shows the entire development process, featuring both old and new animation styles.  

In North Korea, animations were once called children’s films. Drawings of children’s films in the early stage were more realistic, based on facts. Animations, on the other hand, focus more on the distinctive parts of each character. In recent digital animations, in particular, colors are more vivid and the characters look a lot more natural and softer. Boy General shows these changes. 

When it comes to long animation series in North Korea, Clever Raccoon Dog is definitely worth mentioning. 

Clever Raccoon Dog first aired in 1987. On August 10 this year, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported that Episode 70 and 71 of the series were newly produced. 

The animation is about a raccoon dog that solves difficult problems using its scientific knowledge and wisdom. In North Korea, grown-ups also like to watch the series. 

North Korea uses animations as a means of delivering scientific information and didactic lessons. Clever Raccoon Dog is an educational animation that explains scientific principles in an interesting way. In an episode, for example, the main characters—a smart raccoon dog and a strong bear—compete to make a fire. The bear, who always tries to solve problems using his strength, rubs two sticks together, as the action creates friction that causes heat. But on an icy hill amid snow flurries, the sticks won’t catch fire easily. The smart raccoon dog, meanwhile, starts a fire with a convex lens made from ice. The convex lens is used to concentrate the sun’s rays onto a small area, heating up the spot and therefore igniting the area. The story is both fun and informative.

Leader Kim Jong-un showed keen interest in the animated film industry after he came to power. He once visited the SEK Studios and asked animators there to break out of old practices and create a variety of new animated movies. The result is the 2017 history animation titled Gojumong, which is a representative animation piece in the Kim Jong-un era. 

Gojumong portrays the birth of Jumong, known as the founder of the Goguryeo Kingdom. Its advanced 3D techniques make movements and facial expressions of the characters look more precise, generating outstanding three-dimensional effects. 

In the early 2000s, animation acted as a bridge between South and North Korea. A South Korean company proposed collaboration with the North in animation production. As a result, in 2002, some episodes of the popular South Korean animation series Pororo the Little Penguin were made by a North Korean subcontractor called Samcholli General Corporation. 

The North Korean company produced animations based on scenarios and characters designed by the South. According to Pororo’s production company in the South, North Korea was so active and enthusiastic about the project that it proposed a 3D animation, not a 2D version originally suggested by the South. It is said that the result was quite satisfactory. 

North Korea’s production techniques were ideally combined with South Korea’s marketing capability and creativity. The joint project proceeded well. North Korea paid great attention to the animation as entertainment for its domestic audience and also as an export item. A shift from 2D animations to 3D ones was a global trend. North Korea proposed 3D, probably because a project like that could enable the country to capitalize on its production techniques and promote its works abroad. The result was great. 

But the project faced difficulties as well. While there was no language barrier between the two sides, it was not easy to confirm the process of the work on the other side and exchange feedback. South Koreans had to visit the North by way of China to see how things progress and discuss with North Korean staff. That was rather inconvenient. 

Another successful co-production between South and North Korea is Empress Chung, a theatrical animated feature film released in 2005. 

South Korea was in charge of planning and post-production work, while North Korea was responsible for drawing and coloring. The film is based on a famous Korean folk story about a devoted daughter who sacrifices herself to restore her blind father’s eyesight. Rather than highlighting the heroine’s traditional image, the animated movie features some animals like a dog, a goose and a turtle to add a modern touch to the classic folktale. 

SEK Studio participated in the production of overseas animations such as the Italian version of the The Lion King and Pocahontas as early as in the 1990s, playing a major role in bringing foreign currency into North Korea. Here’s a North Korean defector who had worked at the studio. 

Only 20 percent of the staffs of the film studio work on domestic animations, and the other 80 percent are in charge of overseas animation subcontracting. It might be a small amount here in South Korea, but they earn eight million dollars a year. 

Last December, the U.S. included SEK Studio in the list of its new sanctions, accusing the studio of illegally having North Korean animators work in China and exploiting low-cost labor to earn foreign currency. 

North Korean animations have grown significantly on the back of state support, once touted as a model of cross-border exchanges between the two Koreas. But Washington’s sanctions on the Pyongyang-based animation studio are likely to affect North Korea’s animation exports in some way.