Crash Landing on You and North Korea: Representation and Reception in the Age of K-Drama - Japan Focus
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Volume 18 | Issue 12 | Number 5 | Article ID 5408 | Jun 05, 2020
The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus
Crash Landing on You and North Korea: Representation and
Reception in the Age of K-Drama
Stephen Epstein, Christopher K. Green
Abstract surrounding media environment. We also add
to a growing body of scholarship that situates
South Korean dramas within broader social and
political contexts.
Keywords: Crash Landing on You; K-drama;
Hallyu; South Korean popular culture; North
Korean defectors; talbukja; Hyun Bin; Son Ye-
jin
Crash Landing on You (Sarang-ui bulsichak), a Crash Landing on You (Sarang-ui bulsichak), a
16-episode drama on South Korean cable 16-episode drama on South Korean cable
channel tvN in 2019-20 that was also released channel tvN featuring top stars Hyun Bin and
on Netflix, has drawn broad attention for its Son Ye-jin, has drawn broad attention for its
storyline featuring a South Korean heiress unusual storyline: a South Korean chaebol
stranded in North Korea who falls in love with heiress, stranded in North Korea after a
an elite military officer. Though the show paragliding mishap, falls in love with a Korean
invokes many formulae of South Korean People’s Army officer from an elite Pyongyang
dramas, it also offers a detailed portrait of family. The first episode aired on 14 December
North Korea, and, as such, is a crucial text for 2019, and the show wrapped up on 16
evaluating ongoing change in South Korean February 2020. Over the course of its tvN
popular representations of its neighbour. broadcast, viewership rose week by week and
Indeed, given the concerted use of North the show’s finale achieved almost a 22%
Korean backdrops in Crash Landing on You and audience share in South Korea, the second
the size and global extent of its audiences, the highest ever for a cable drama to that date. 1
show is likely the most noteworthy South Equally notably, the near immediate subtitled
Korean popular culture representation of North Netflix release of each episode in multiple
Korea yet produced. In this article, we first jurisdictions proved a clear success with
consider the drama and its depictions of North overseas viewers. Interest grew further as the
Korea and then discuss groupings of Korean drama attracted new audiences amidst
and international responses to the show. In pandemic lockdowns around the world, with
doing so, we extend our work on the confluence articles about the show then appearing in such
of South Korean pop culture representations of prominent outlets as The Washington Post (Kim
North Korea with developments in information and Denyer 2020), Al-Jazeera (Kasulis 2020),
and communication technologies and the The Guardian (Walker 2020) and NBC News
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(Suliman and Kim 2020). those outside Korea point to the ever-
expanding realms of reception and dialogue in
Although Crash Landing on You invokes many which South Korean dramas find themselves
formulae of South Korean dramas in its tale of embedded. Crash Landing therefore is playing
a star-crossed love, it blazed new ground with (or at least has the potential to play) an
individuated Northern characters and diverse important role in the non-linear process of
North Korean settings that conveyed authentic transforming North Korea in both the domestic
th
details of daily life above the 38 parallel. and global imagination from a rogue state ruled
Attempts to create verisimilitude in depicting by crazed despots to yet another country with
the North (albeit amidst the less-than-realistic its own particular histories, strengths and
conventions of romantic comedy) thus make the weaknesses.
show a crucial text for evaluating ongoing
change in South Korean popular Accordingly, we first briefly consider the show
representations of its neighbour. The drama itself, focusing on aspects of how a drama
provides some of the strongest evidence to date produced amidst the sociocultural and
that media developments of the last decade are geopolitical frameworks of the 2018-2019
affecting the South Korean public’s period portrays North Korea and a North
understandings of North Korea and that the Korean protagonist, as well as the attitude the
rise of variety and reality shows featuring show evinces towards North Korean society
resettled North Koreans living in the South, more generally. We then discuss distinct
together with self-broadcast from this groupings of responses to the show: media
community of talbukja (lit. “those who have left articles and statements from conservative
the north”)2 via platforms like Afreeca.tv and South Koreans; talbukja commentary on
YouTube; and international reactions from the
YouTube, are encouraging ever more realistic
press and fans engaging in online fora. In doing
and detailed pictures of the country’s people
so, we extend our work on the confluence of
and its social and economic structures. Indeed,
South Korean pop culture representations of
given the concerted use of North Korean
North Korea with developments in information
backdrops in Crash Landing on You and the
and communication technologies and the
size and global extent of its audiences, the
surrounding media environment (Epstein and
show can readily be considered the single most
Green 2013; Epstein and Green 2019), and add
noteworthy South Korean popular culture
to a growing body of scholarship that situates
representation of life within North Korea ever
South Korean dramas within broader social and
produced.
political contexts (e.g. Elfving-Hwang 2017;
Flamm 2018; Yi 2018).
Perhaps naturally, however, in handling such a
polarising subject as North Korea, Crash
Landing on You (henceforth Crash Landing, in
preference to CLOY, its usual but unfortunate Mixing Pop and Politics
acronym) has also provoked divergent
responses among its various audiences. As we Television rom-com dramas may not seem an
discuss below, although a broad swath of the obvious site of international relations, but
South Korean populace is seemingly content to consumption of popular culture has come to
view North Korea in nuanced hues, others play a key role in shaping interactions between
reject depictions of its neighbour that deviate countries in East Asia in recent years as
from black-and-white portraits. Moreover, transnational media flows surge, including
reactions to the show from not only native-born between North and South Korea (Kim 2019). As
South Korean viewers but also talbukja and widely reported, Hallyu, the spread of South
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Korean popular culture, is acting as a pull geopolitical environment in which the Korean
factor in encouraging migration from the North peninsula is embedded.
(Lee 2019). Meanwhile, South Korea’s popular
narratives about North Korea, far from unified, Crash Landing was planned, shot and
embody the country’s many aspirations, eventually broadcast during an especially
desires, and fears concerning its neighbour and noteworthy period in inter-Korean relations,
impinge upon domestic mass sentiment. The one particular to the volatile climate of the
images found in broadly consumed cultural Moon Jae-in administration’s diplomatic dance
texts such as Crash Landing therefore refract with Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. Moon
and generate ongoing changes in inter-Korean had assumed the presidency in mid-2017
relations, even if their effects are elusive, amidst sharply heightened US-DPRK tensions,
unpredictable and occasionally contradictory. which even provoked fears that war might
break out. By year’s end, however, North Korea
In also breaking ground with its portrayals of was telegraphing a move to dialogue, with the
North Korea at an international level, Crash US as the ultimate target. Seizing the
Landing deserves notice for its role in a savvy, opportunity offered by Pyongyang’s willingness
globally aware cultural industry that to use engagement with Seoul to shift gears
increasingly takes as much heed of audiences with Washington, the South held secretive talks
beyond its borders as it does of domestic with the North that November. The
viewers. In this sense Crash Landing goes Pyeongchang Winter Olympics of February
beyond a South Korean drama addressing a 2018 provided a stage for the public
locally relevant theme, and functions very performance of inter-Korean friendship, and
much as a “K-drama,” that is, a Hallyu product the presence of combined teams in a handful of
intended to generate revenue overseas while sports, as well as a cheering squad of North
enhancing the prestige of the South Korean Korean women, and visits of groups of
nation, but one that does so through the Northern musicians to South Korea helped lead
unusual and compelling medium of featuring a to a thawing of the frosty diplomatic climate. In
local take on North Korea. Over the last decade April, Moon and Kim held a summit at the truce
various South Korean dramas such as Iris village of Panmunjeom that riveted the world,
(2009), Athena: God of War (2010), Spy Myong and at a second surprise meeting there the
Wol (2011) and The King 2 Hearts (2012) have following month, Moon appeared to help Kim
featured North Korean characters, but none rescue his endangered June summit with
have had similar reach or treated the country Trump. Reinvigorated inter-Korean relations
itself in anything like the same detail as Crash continued through the summer, and grand
Landing. And although the show’s use of North plans for heightened co-operation made
Korea as a backdrop in Crash Landing can also frequent headlines. Kim and Moon met again
be situated within South Korean drama’s for a third summit in Pyongyang at the end of
employment of “exotic” locales to engage September.
viewer interest,3 the North’s special status vis-
à-vis the South endows Crash Landing’s Many observers, perhaps naively, felt that
settings with unusually resonant meanings. As Moon’s commitment to reviving a version of the
we argue below, however, as South Korea’s Sunshine Policy of his liberal predecessors Kim
cultural industries contribute more and more to Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun was bearing fruit,
the nation’s drive for soft power, they also and development of Crash Landing appears to
interact, and skirmish at times, with the have begun in earnest in 2018 amidst an
fractious and contested domestic politics of atmosphere of highly favourable public opinion
South Korea and the unstable, high-stakes about the government’s approach towards the
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North (Kim, Kang and Ko 2019; Shin and Moon grouped high-rise apartments. The following 20
2019: 39; BBC 2020). The almost seconds rely largely on a split-screen technique
unprecedented South Korean optimism about to introduce us to the respective Southern and
relations with its neighbour (and an Northern protagonists, Yun Se-ri and Ri Jeong-
administration keen to foster that optimism) hyeok, presenting stark distinctions between
played a role in encouraging a drama with them that touch on such primary areas of
North Korean settings and an attitude of cultural expression as food, clothing, shelter,
sympathy towards many of its Northern and transportation.5
characters. Unfortunately, this propitious
climate did not last, and in 2019 South Korea’s Nevertheless, although aspects of their nurture
relationship with North Korea experienced a speak to difference, the juxtapositions also hint
major downturn; the more usual state of at the two as matched in diligence,
tension had returned before the show received determination, attentiveness to grooming, and
an opportunity to crash land on anyone’s possessing a solitary nature that will soon bring
screen. 4 The show’s representations and its them together in a deep bond. Indeed, when
variegated receptions need to be understood, the pair first relate their full names to each
then, in the context of these cycles of anxiety other, a deep irony presents itself: she is a
followed by relief and raised hopes for Haeju Yun, a clan originally from the northern
improved relations that are subsequently seaside town of Haeju, and he is a Jeonju Ri by
dashed. lineage, with roots in the southern agricultural
city Jeonju. The exchange conveys both
interchangeability and the arbitrariness of fate.
Likewise, perhaps the most striking segment of
North Korea in a K-Drama Lens
the opening occurs as the two, in their usual
attire, walk in their respective home turfs
Although Crash Landing is striking for its
toward the centre of the screen, now split into
strenuous efforts to populate North Korea with
three, pass each other in an undetermined
clearly distinguished, genuine-seeming and
even compelling characters, it inevitably does
foreign location (Zurich, to be precise), and
so not merely from a Southern perspective, but then re-emerge, with Se-ri in North Korea
from one situated within a mass entertainment transformed by simpler clothing into a local
industry. The evocative opening sequence that resident, and Jeong-hyeok now in the South, a
provides viewers’ initial encounter with the dapper local. The ease of the transformation
drama’s world repays analysis for its divisions not only foreshadows the ability of each to
of North and South that invoke contrasts of adapt in the other’s country but also highlights
socialism and capitalism, simplicity and destiny’s mysterious workings.
sophistication, militarism and consumption.
Like many Korean dramas, Crash Landing
takes knowing pleasure in its own fable-like
The first frames present two hands reaching qualities and campier aspects. As we soon learn
across to the centre of the screen to pull back upon the unfolding of the narrative, Se-ri is a
curtains that reveal, in parallel, views outside a chaebol heiress who has independently built a
window: a humble cluster of village homes on burgeoning fashion empire. Shortly before she
one side, and a row of sleek high-rises on the is set to take over stewardship of the family
other. The camera cuts to a traditional Korean conglomerate (much against the wishes of her
dwelling, and then swiftly rises above its roof, half-brothers and their wives), she goes
transferring the setting to a panorama of Seoul paragliding but is caught in a whirlwind, à la
with bridges, the Han River and densely Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and blown to a
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land beyond—the North Korean side of the sympathetically portrayed as “handsome,
Demilitarised Zone. The drama pays whimsical daring, patriotic and multilingual elite fighters
homage to this cinematic link by depicting a who dodge bullets while remaining loyal to
bicycle and livestock (as well as a distinctively their women and families” (Jung 2013). More
North Korean tractor) swept up with Se-ri in fully over the last decade, the South Korean
the CGI sequence of the storm. After Se-ri popular imagination has seen a noteworthy
crash lands, she falls from the tree in which she move from the longstanding trope of namnam
and her paragliding gear have become bungnyeo (“Southern Man, Northern Woman”),
entangled into the arms of Jeong-hyeok, and which focuses on imagining matches between a
their first encounter, which blends playful good-looking man from South Korea and an
humour and a sense of tension, suggesting the attractive Northern female counterpart, to a
chemistry between them. Jeong-hyeok protects tendency to treat North Korean men
rather than reports her, and over time their themselves as compelling, in a trend we might
relationship blossoms into love despite the instead term bungnam minam (“Northern Man,
extraordinary obstacles the pair faces that help Handsome Man”). The trend, however, draws
constitute the drama’s plot. on a paradox: North Korean fictional males
become appealing not only because they are
depicted as maintaining a dashing ideal
Jeong-hyeok, as we discover, is the son of the masculinity, but because they are actualised by
head of the General Political Department of the performance and embodiment from favoured
Korean People’s Army (chongjeongchigukjang), Southern celebrities. To be sure, much of the
an extremely powerful position in the North buzz that accompanied Crash Landing arose
6
Korean hierarchy. He is also a gifted pianist from the casting of Hyun Bin, who had starred
and had studied in Basel, Switzerland (a in not only My Lovely Sam-soon, Secret Garden
resonant location, given that Kim Jong Un and Memories of the Alhambra, three of South
himself studied in the capital, Bern) and had Korea’s most successful dramas, but also
once looked forward to a bright career in 2017’s Confidential Assignment (Gongjo) as the
music. It rapidly becomes clear, however, that North Korean head of an investigative team.
Ri’s family is embroiled in the potentially lethal
competition of elite North Korean politics. The approach to North Korea in Crash Landing
Upon the assassination of his older brother, engages a heteronormative female gaze in
Jeong-hyeok abandons his musical ambitions, awakening romantic longings towards Jeong-
returning to North Korea to take up a military hyeok. The high status of both Se-ri and Jeong-
position similar to the one his deceased sibling hyeok within their societies make them equals
held. of a sort, but alliance of viewers with the
perspective of a South Korean self involves a
The idealised portrayal of Jeong-hyeok merges shift from common past representations of a
high social status in the North with typically masculine Southern protagonist taking the lead
desirable traits of masculinity in recent South with a feminine Other towards its converse.
Korean dramas, which grow evident over This shift responds to both changing gender
several episodes: unusually fine looks, attention roles in South Korean society and recognition
to appearance, compassion, intelligence, of domestic and global consumption patterns
reserved demeanour but emotional sensitivity, for drama: recent texts suggest that educated,
and devotion to one true love. This depiction professional young women (like Se-ri) are
draws on and recapitulates a striking fad that seeking (and increasingly finding) more
emerged in several films of the early 2010s in empowering and gratifying narrative
which North Korean spies became identifications.7 In this sense, Crash
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Landing also fits comfortably with recent
representations of talbukja males visible in a
spectrum of cable television entertainment “It’s Grim Up North”?
shows and educational broadcasts in which
they are treated as having an appealing But Crash Landing seeks to be relatively even-
masculinity that recalls more traditional handed in its portrayals, and, as such, Se-ri’s
Korean qualities, but eschews authoritarian initial shock at the society in which she has
crash landed soon yields to curiosity. A scene
behaviour (Epstein and Green 2019).8
from Episode 2 typifies how the show attempts
As a device to gain viewer attention, then, the to bring North Korea to life for its urban
portrayal of Jeong-hyeok specifically, and North Southern audiences and make the country
Koreans and North Korea more generally in compelling (a tactic that also led to
Crash Landing, tries to accomplish a variety of controversy, as we discuss below).
tasks simultaneously, which do not always
neatly come together: the show strives for a Together with Se-ri, nominally cosmopolitan
romanticised and vaguely exotic hero as an but ignorant of Korean traditions, viewers see
object of fantasy, but then seeks to render the meat kept in a salt crock so that it won’t spoil
country as a concrete and realistic backdrop and are then led to a dug-out kimchi cellar,
and humanise its populace, all whilst with which Se-ri is unfamiliar. She does not
accentuating North Korea’s idiosyncratic even recognise the term for it, gimchium. When
aspects for dramatic effect. In its first half, Corporal Kim Ju-meok of Ri’s troop unit
Crash Landing takes Se-ri as a lone female and expresses surprise that she doesn’t know it, Se-
places her, like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, ri exclaims that of course she does not
with a set of lovable, if less commanding, male (moreuji!); a subtitled gloss makes clear the
companions in the form of Ri’s platoon of expectation that South Korea’s domestic
soldiers, who attempt to return her home and audience will be similarly unaware. Se-ri reacts
protect her against powerful evil forces in a with delight as Ju-meok explains that the cellar
foreign land. In doing so, the show offers a not only prevents the food from going bad, but
potent set of quasi-mythical elements. allows it to ferment in especially tasty fashion.
She perceives the traditional method as
Simultaneously, however, Se-ri’s shock at “organic” and “hip,” and her use of the two
suddenly becoming a stranger in a strange land English words leaves her interlocutor looking
at the end of Episode 1 elicits frightening and puzzled. North Korean underdevelopment here
viscerally powerful features that point to is refashioned into trendiness in an era of slow
political realities: the absence of electricity in food and entreaties to return to sustainability
the dark village that Se-ri finds herself in marks and simplicity.
it as backward, as does a man leading an ox
who passes her with a blank, arguably fearful, Likewise, as Ri roasts meat over a charcoal
expression. The calisthenics that the villagers briquette, Geum Eun-dong, the sweetly
engage in shortly thereafter may strike some as innocent youngest member of his corps,
a welcome collective gathering; others, who marvels because he has never seen a briquette
identify with Se-ri as an onlooker here, may before, having only used fallen twigs and weeds
find them regimented and unnerving. Likewise, for fuel in his village. Ri offers a bit of
the children who set off for school in lockstep compassionate modernising discourse,
while singing a pro-regime song, evoke a promising that Eun-dong’s village will soon
palpable atmosphere of totalitarianism. Se-ri is have briquettes as well, not unlike South
not in Kansas—or Gangnam—anymore. Korean films of the late 1960s such as School
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Excursion (Suhak yeohaeng), in which urban humorous citation of the name of the group’s
residents encourage belief in the spread of international fan club dubiously suggests
9
development nationally. Se-ri, sophisticate that knowledge of internet and fandom culture, as
she is, can scarcely believe what she hears; her well as the incongruity of the term in the highly
smirk, as she muses how advanced a gas militarised state.
burner would seem, provokes an exasperated
sigh from Ri. However, the tables are soon Crash Landing sets before the audience a wide
turned, and it is Se-ri’s turn to marvel when she swath of contemporary North Korea, portraying
discovers the deliciousness of “clam bulgogi,” men and women, husbands and wives, parents
which Jeong-hyeok and his men cook by placing and children, as well as rivalries and
the shellfish on the ground and setting it friendships of multiple hues, structures of
aflame with petrol. power and social mores. The drama shows a
spectrum of Northern values, evoking, for
Se-ri comes to admire much that she finds in example, a deep sense of filiality, as Eun-dong
the North as she appears to engage with a wells up with tears while reading a letter from
more authentic version of herself. Conversely, his mother, or we witness Jeong-hyeok interact
though, much is made of the North’s fondness with his infrequently seen parents. A final
for South Korean popular culture, and dinner before Ri is discharged from the army to
encounters with its presence titillate and flatter try to revive his music career becomes an
the domestic South Korean audience, who are opportunity to celebrate North Korea’s
encouraged to see their own desirability in maintenance of jeong, a key emotion in South
Northern eyes. While overplayed, Crash Korean discourse, which highlights a sense of
Landing does reflect media consumption in affection regarded as marking Korea’s
North Korea, with one study suggesting that up traditional ethnic identity. Same-sex solidarity
to 88% of defectors accessed “forbidden comes to the fore as the village women circle
foreign media” prior to departure (Lee 2019: the wagons around Se-ri when they feel she has
96-7). 10 The presence even serves as a plot been wronged by Jeong-hyeok in Episode 6. As
device: in the first episode Ju-meok misses Se-ri Se-ri is urged to pull a rival’s hair in a fight, she
sneaking past his guard post because he is muses to herself in an amusing aside that “we
engrossed in watching the Southern drama really are the same minjok (ethnos), after all.”
Stairway to Heaven. He later bonds with her,
eager for information on plotlines. Upon North Korea’s curiosities, as seen through a
initially bidding farewell from North Korea, Se- Southern lens, provide opportunities for
ri offers him as a gift a choice between the displays of local foibles but also glimpses into
television in the room (which, comically, in fact the North’s mushrooming entrepreneurial
belongs to Ri) and a lunch date with Choi Ji- energy: a night-time household inspection
woo, star of Stairway to Heaven, when (sukbak geomyeol) humorously turns up a
unification occurs or he finally arrives in Seoul. smuggled South Korean rice cooker in one
His preference for the seemingly unlikely latter home, and an adulterer, hiding under his
foreshadows Choi’s cameo appearance in lover’s bed, in another. The errant husband
Episode 13, which playfully reconstitutes the pleads loneliness as a result of his wife’s
iconic scene that Corporal Kim had been lengthy absences as a tradeswoman, which
watching. Similarly, in Episode 7, Se-ri exploits points to North Korea’s own changing gender
Northern fascination with Southern popular dynamics as women take a much larger role in
culture to ingratiate herself with a young fan of market sector economic activities, but the self-
K-pop boy band BTS, who designates herself criticism session that he faces reminds viewers
“the biggest A,R,M,Y. in North Korea.” Her of coercive social controls still in place.
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Local colour appears further with small-town as Jo Cheol-gang, linked to North Korea’s
marketplace vendors and hair salons, and the detested intelligence services, who sets out to
department stores and eating establishments of destroy Ri’s family for personal gain. However,
Pyeongyang. A bargaining taxi driver, adamant the show insists that evil is not confined to
that the desired destination of Seo Dan, to north of the 38th parallel: Se-ri’s siblings and
whom Jeong-hyeok is betrothed, is too far, the sisters-in-law, all of sharp-elbowed chaebol
journey too rough and the possibility of a stock, mirror their Northern counterparts in
return fare nil, refuses to take her until her ruthless competitiveness, insatiable greed and
offered price reaches a point that makes him willingness to abuse power. Alliances of
succumb. The contrast of the two in the car as common humanity (and inhumanity) are
the driver sings along with gusto to a regime presented that cut across the North/South
song and Seo Dan tunes him out with classical divide in defiance of a simplistic anti-
music on headphones suggests social divides in communist or anti-capitalist frame.
the country. 1 1 Seo Dan’s mother herself
becomes a comic figure for her nouveau riche
trappings as a member of North Korea’s
Glamorising North Korea?
merchant class seeking to be cosmopolitan but
failing, a mother as concerned for her family’s Although the detailed and diverse portrait of
status as her daughter’s happiness. Her lack of North Korea has driven much of the interest in
sophistication, even as a member of Crash Landing, it has also prompted
Pyongyang’s elite, resonates with a South controversy. Early news of the drama and its
Korean tendency to consider Northerners as general concept stirred anticipation, given a
bumpkins (chonseureopda). strong cast that again brought together Hyun
Bin and Son Ye-jin, co-stars in the 2018 film
Other particulars represent the hardships of Hyeopsang (The Negotiation), and a production
daily life, from a lack of supplies in hospitals to team that included Park Ji-eun. However, by
the poverty that forces people into lawlessness. the time of the show’s release, the changed
We encounter petty thieves of various stripes: tenor of inter-Korean relations made media
marketplace pickpockets, beggar children who discussion more ambivalent. Director Yi Jeong-
pilfer clothes from rural washing lines and hyo had urged audiences
windshield wiper thieves at Pyongyang’s (https://www.bbc.com/korean/international-511
international airport. Greater complexity arises 71771) in a pre-broadcast press conference to
in portraying good people trapped within an accept North Korea as a backdrop to the
inhumane system: among the drama’s most protagonists’ romance and a situational
compelling characters is “the Rat,” a wiretap element for fun, but his request largely fell on
operator who straddles the murky divide deaf ears, and reviewers (An 2019; Yi 2019)
between the North Korean regime and its were explicit: although the drama received
people. The Rat is haunted by grief when he positive responses (hopyeong), it also
has no choice but to pass on crucial information occasioned discomfort (bulpyeon).
that facilitates the assassination of Ri Jeong-
hyeok’s brother, one of the few people who has Media coverage took particular note of Episode
been kind to him. 2, broadcast on December 15, as problematic in
depicting North Korean society (Oh 2019).
Perhaps unsurprisingly, as a drama, Crash Some commentators argued (Gang 2019; Yi
Landing also foists upon the audience 2019) that although viewers might wish to treat
characters who appear almost unremittingly the show as escapist drama, the timing of its
evil and become ready targets of hatred, such release amidst uncertainty over whether Kim
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Jong Un would follow through on rhetoric about does not glamorise the North.
delivering a “Christmas present” (feared to
portend a destabilising missile test, but in fact Thus, the drama’s possible violation of South
a policy change articulated in a party plenum Korea’s anti-communist statute hardly explains
speech) willy-nilly forced consciousness of the CLP statement. Though the CLP notes the
reality upon the public. Under such show’s popularity with dismay, the primary
circumstances, it was suggested that having a target of the statement is clearly the Moon
Northern elite soldier as protagonist, no matter administration itself, which it improbably
how chivalrous, kind and handsome, became accuses of sedition. “Nobody calls North Korea
uncomfortable for many, and the prevailing the main enemy now,” it laments, pointedly
atmosphere made it difficult to accept the referring to the debate over the validity of
exhortation to simply watch a drama as a designating North Korea as South Korea’s main
drama. Indeed, Mun Ji-yeon, in an article for enemy (jujeok) that resurfaces whenever the
Sports Chosun Ministry of National Defence publishes a white
(https://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/20 paper. The statement ends by accusing the
20/02/03/2020020302975.html), a tabloid Moon administration and only secondarily tvN
associated with the conservative Chosun Ilbo, of wrongdoing. The CLP was therefore
published as Crash Landing was approaching deploying Crash Landing as a weapon in the
its finale, claims, with no obvious evidence battle over incumbent President Moon Jae-in’s
beyond her own convictions, that the drama leadership, especially his administration’s
only shook off controversy and achieved a North Korea policy. Its vociferous denunciation
snowballing viewership by inserting increasing in 2020, amidst resumption of antagonistic
inter-Korean relations, to a drama that
reminders of the regime’s brutality.
responds to a high point of engagement is
Negative attention for Crash Landing reached unsurprising. The more noteworthy aspect of
its zenith when the show became embroiled in the furore is the way the CLP statement
South Korea’s combative domestic politics. underscores the rising salience of, and
Three weeks into the broadcast, the minor contestation over, representations of North
Christian Liberal Party (gidokjayudang, Korea and North Koreans not only in South
henceforth CLP) issued a statement criticising Korean politics and society generally, but in
tvN for its “glamorisation” (mihwa) of the rebel South Korean popular culture.
North Korean authorities (Dong 2020). The CLP
even asserted that the show violated South
Korea’s anti-communist security law. 12 In a Talbukja Responses
strictly legal sense, the CLP was correct: the
1948 National Security Act makes praise We have discussed elsewhere the
(chanyang) or propaganda (seonjeon) for North disproportionate role of North Korean defectors
Korea a crime under any circumstances,13 and in the South Korean imagination, and how the
the drama’s portrayal of certain elements of talbukja community has taken advantage of
daily life in North Korea, especially traditional developments in media technology to engage
ones, could be regarded as favourable. But effectively in self-broadcast (Epstein & Green
many other television programmes, from 2019). Several of its members have now
dramas and variety shows to educational uploaded to YouTube assessments of Crash
broadcasts, have painted ordinary North Landing, some attracting hundreds of
Koreans and aspects of North Korea in a thousands of views. As Yun In-gyeong (2020)
neutral or even positive light, and, as noted, the notes in an article for the BBC, a YouTube
overall portrait that emerges in Crash Landing search for Crash Landing on You in the eyes of
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North Korean defectors (“talbungmin-i bon gatekeepers and verifying or rejecting the
sarang-ui bulsichak”) yields dozens of videos. authenticity of the drama for non-North Korean
Even those that have drawn less attention viewers, these talbukja reviewers share several
remain of interest given the role that talbukja characteristics. Most praise the drama’s
play in framing North Korea for those outside concerted attempts to convey North Korean
the DPRK. life, citing positively the sets, characterisations,
and attention to linguistic detail. Yu offers a
spirited defense of the show’s representations
The most viewed such clip, with almost 600,000 of North Korea, and chides those who insist on
views by the show’s completion in mid- black and white portrayals. Like Kang, she
February, comes from Kang Nara. Kang rose to praises the show’s ability to awaken nostalgia
prominence as a guest on the reality show in her. The delight she expresses at
Namnam bungnyeo (Ormiston 2018; Kim and encountering long-unheard North Korean
Yoon 2019) and now regularly appears on drinking terms (e.g. jjung naeja and jjiuja,
YontongTV, a YouTube channel run by Yonhap equivalents of “cheers”) make apparent how
News’ Unification Media Institute. Her minor the show tugs at defectors’ heart strings.
celebrity and behind-the-scenes knowledge of
the show as a consultant caused her
commentary to also be picked up by Koreaboo Talbukja reviewers do, however, criticise
(2020), a key website for English-speaking unlikely elements of the plot. Not one thinks
Korean pop culture fans. Kang has thus become that Ri, given his elite background, would ever
an interpreter of the show at a larger global be deployed near the inter-Korean border. Lee
level. 14 She laughingly refers to herself as a also notes the implausibility of any North
native speaker (woneomin) of “North Korean” Korean sheltering a South Korean given the
both in her review and another video assessing danger that doing so would bring, and finds the
South Korean actors’ linguistic performances relative health and attractiveness of the North
Korean soldiers unrealistic, while Ipyeong
as North Koreans,15 a term that has a slightly
regards Hyun Bin’s fashion as too Southern,
sardonic quality given the rhetoric of a single
especially when he appears in a cardigan, an
ethnic nation divided. She praises Hyun Bin’s
item of clothing that he never saw in the North.
Pyongyang accent, while criticising that of Seo
Yet even amidst these critiques lies awareness
Ji-hye, the actress who plays Seo Dan. She also
that television dramas aim at entertainment
notes with approval the drama’s use of terms
and are hardly an ideal vehicle for complex and
for “comrade” (dongmu; dongji) and the
earnest messages about North Korea. All
nostalgia they evoke within her. She commends
therefore accept the occasional lack of realism
too its vivid depiction of North Korean
and the influence of other factors for directorial
marketplaces (jangmadang) with only minor
choices, as when Lee comments on the beef
criticisms, such as the absence of Kim family
that the soldiers barbecue after Se-ri requests
badges on some characters’ lapels.
meat: “Pork would have been more
realistic…but the beef does look delicious!”
Other talbukja commentators with clips that
had been viewed over 200,000 times by the
time the show ended include Yu Hyeon-ju, a
mainstay of the Channel-A show Now on My Some talbukja, however, viewing the show
Way to Meet You; BJ Ipyeong, perhaps the most differently, argue that North Korean life should
popular male talbukja self-broadcaster; and Lee not be taken so lightly. Ordinary non-elite
Han-song, whose personal YouTube channel North Koreans suffer greatly, and in the
has well over 100,000 subscribers. In acting as context of Korean ethnic nationalism, such
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sufferings become the sufferings of the entire presumptions of homogeneity and showing
nation. For these viewers, Crash Landing, in their varied concerns about perceptions of the
not depicting North Korea as unremittingly North. Some talbukja are content to regard the
grim, is, by definition, inappropriate. Of text from a distance and do not expect faithful
particular note in this category is a clip reproduction of reality, while those most
uploaded to YouTube by Kang Chol-hwan, the concerned with North Korea’s human rights
co-author of The Aquariums of Pyongyang, a abuses treat the country with utmost
popular account of his imprisonment in a North seriousness. The ratings for Crash Landing,
Korean labour camp. Kang now heads an NGO meanwhile, suggest that most viewers,
hastening to bring down the Kim regime in part domestically and globally, accept the show’s
by smuggling external media into North Korea premise within the suspension of disbelief that
on USB sticks. As Kang speaks, subtitles with romantic comedy requires and enjoy the
the NGO’s bank account details seek unusual setting as something to be savoured
supporters and donations as they proclaim a and observed closely.
mission: “Using the power of outside
information to bring down Kim Jong Un’s
dictatorial regime.”
International Responses
What noteworthy features have arisen in how
Kang rebukes the production team of Crash
overseas viewers react to Crash Landing, given
Landing on the grounds that treating North
the issues raised for domestic audiences? The
Korea lightly is never acceptable. In common
embedding of South Korean popular culture in
cause with the religious conservatives of the
interwoven webs of contested reception has
CLP, Kang feels that the show idealises life
been a striking feature of the world’s
there. He does, however, note with ironic self-
movement to ever more interconnected media
awareness his pleasure at the representation of
production, consumption and pop
North Korean males as attractive, especially cosmopolitanism (Lee 2018). By the end of the
through the portrayal of Hyun Bin, which he 1990s, dramas had become a key component in
mentions no fewer than three times in the brief the growing popularity of South Korea’s
clip. Nonetheless, for Kang, Crash Landing has cultural products around East Asia, and by the
sacrificed principle for commercial success and 2000s were being licensed internationally and
conveys a false impression of the country. He achieving surprising successes, from, e.g., the
argues that despite the popularity of South phenomenon of Winter Sonata in Japan to the
Korean dramas in North Korea the show would popularity of historical dramas Dae Jang Geum
not resonate with viewers there, because it and Jumong in Iran, both of which garnered
does not speak meaningfully to their situation, local viewer ratings of over 85% (Kang 2016).
and compares it unfavourably with the 2014
blockbuster film Ode to My Father (Gukje These developments have continued apace, and
shijang). Kang asserts that both defectors and with the rise of streaming services like Hulu,
North Koreans find the latter appealing Viki and now especially Netflix, which has
because of historical passages that show South signed contracts with Korean companies for the
Koreans living in conditions that in some production of original series (Lee 2020),
senses resemble North Korea today. Korean dramas have well and truly entered the
global cultural mainstream. As YouTube user
Kang’s denunciation of Crash Landing Deemalovesdrama notes in a review of Crash
highlights the diversity of opinion among the Landing, the arrival of Netflix as a platform has
growing community of talbukja, confounding had an enormous impact upon her watching
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experience; the vastly improved image quality depiction of North Korea, with a nod to the
brings further life to the enjoyment of online emotive qualities that the show engaged, as for
audiences. example a Straits Times’ piece that quoted a
Singaporean fan on how the show awakened
awareness “of the sadness and longing that
The presence of Korean dramas on Netflix has Koreans who have family or friends on the
given the genre a further push amidst the other side of the DMZ…must be feeling” (Kiew
coronavirus crisis as housebound viewers and Low 2020). Such media reviews often
across the globe looked online for new content, convey a local flavour in their invocation of
and Crash Landing has been by far its most shared, transnational consumption that links
noteworthy beneficiary. Although viewership viewers to the region’s popular culture
data from Netflix has been difficult to obtain superpower, as in the following comment from
(Katz 2019), in February 2020 the show held online Philippines news website Rappler:
the top spot on Netflix in the Philippines, and in “Everyone from your best friend, to your
May 2020 in Japan (MBN 2020); one source neighbor, to your tita, to your doctor, and even
rd
cites it as the 3 most watched show on Netflix to your doctor’s secretary is obsessed with
in March 2020 in the US (Ockoala 2020). As an South Korea's latest television hit, Crash
alternate metric for the relative success of its Landing On You.” (Adan 2020).
overseas audience and the level of engagement,
as of June 1, 2020, Crash Landing on You had Many viewers took notice of Crash Landing as a
some 11,600 viewer ratings on Google, five cultural phenomenon, which generated further
times as many as its nearest competitor among interest. Currently, Crash Landing still carries
Korean dramas, World of the Married (available a striking 5.0 rating among its Google reviews,
on Viu through much of Asia, but not on and several commenters make a direct
Netflix) with 2250 reviews, and in contrast to declaration of the show’s popularity in their
roughly 1800 for Kingdom, 1000 for country. In part, such statements mark the
Descendants of the Sun and 400 for Sky Castle, author’s own engagement with the show, but
other notably popular Korean dramas they also indicate a desire to situate their own
internationally. nation within a global community that is linked
to the Korean Peninsula. Several, whether
To be sure, the intriguing subject matter of hyperbolically or not, rate Crash Landing as the
Crash Landing and the glimpses it offered into best (and at times first) Korean drama they had
North Korea early on played a key role in ever watched, such as the top Google review,
attracting viewers in typical Hallyu target which has been liked over 500 times, from user
markets around Asia such as the Sinophone Varsha ranu kh, whose LinkedIn profile
locales of Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and indicates 30-something woman working in
the PRC Mainland itself, and Southeast Asian digital media in Mumbai: “Best best best show!
nations like the Philippines, Indonesia, I have got so many of my Indian friends
Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand. Media addicted to this show! It's flawless! What
articles, especially as the show moved towards chemistry!! It's like u r in a dream! Imagine
its finale attested to its broad regional success. having Hyun bin character in real!” The
Much commentary on the show evaluated it effervescent approval testifies to the drama’s
positively, and the combination of favourable spread in a major country in which a significant
review and reporting on a phenomenon to be part of the population now accesses Korean
taken note of undoubtedly fuelled further productions through English subtitles.
audience growth. Journalists from around the
region regularly pointed to interest in the Certainly, although international viewers were
1218 | 12 | 5
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fascinated with the window into life in North generated video review, but a level of
Korea, because they live outside the direct complication is added with Crash Landing, as
consequences and impacts of the Korean viewers are set at an additional remove from
Peninsula’s political realities, as the above the South Korea that they are more familiar
comment indicates, their reactions to the show with. The YouTube channel Duckhu TV, for
often differ. In particular, long-time followers of example, presents two young South Korean
Korean dramas as a subcultural genre often women who speak enthusiastically about the
focus on the stars involved, the chemistry show. They serve as intermediaries in having
between the leads, and textual aspects of the the English skills to be able to address a global
show itself and how they relate to conventions audience directly but recognise that their own
of K-dramas. Popular fan fora on the show, knowledge has limitations. Although one states
such as that of Soompi, one of the largest and “I don’t know if international viewers were able
longest-running internet websites devoted to to catch this but some of the actors’ North
Korean popular culture, now run to several Korean accent sounded so legit,” the pair
hundred pages. A great deal occurs in blog immediately call themselves back and
format, and the 17,600-word review (almost recognise that, in this case, their sense of
twice as long as this article) by kfangurl on legitimacy is not the same as that of a talbukja.
thefangirlverdict.com, among the more popular
Korean drama blogs, serves as a marker of
engagement and fandom. The language typifies In a Twitter thread, Subin Kim, the author of a
K-drama fan discourse, with multiple usages BBC World Service article on the show, had
that signal and accentuate in-group identity asked if his followers had questions for his
among fellow fans: upcoming interview with a member of the
show’s writing team, a North Korean defector
One thing that Show does really well, whom Kim described as “the one who brought
is poke fun at drama tropes as a such compelling details on the life and socio-
whole, and bring the funny doing political structure of North Korea.”16 His tweet
that, while serving up drama tropes in received over 13,000 likes and almost 3000
its own story, and bringing the feels retweets and hundreds of comments, many
with those. For new drama viewers, expressing curiosity about the show’s
this is quite a special two-way authenticity and the extent to which various
indoctrination. Like, first, let me show details reflected the defector’s own experience.
you what’s so cliched about drama Amidst their specific queries, many paused to
tropes, and oh, by the way, this is why comment on the quality of the drama and their
you’ll love ’em so much: Feeelzzz. Ha. enjoyment, again often declaring national
origin. Comments arrived not only in English
Many non-Korean fans of South Korean drama but in Spanish and Indonesian, and from fellow
understand that the action on screen may not journalists and academics. Kim, evidently
reflect Korean culture accurately, but rather overwhelmed at the response, himself
presents a fantasy version of it, much as commented in an interaction with a follower
fictional productions from their own countries from the Philippines: “What an era we're living
do. As a result, many seek interpreters with in in which we can talk about an ongoing TV
insider knowledge to aid in their show three thousand kilometers away!” And,
interpretations of what they are watching indeed, there is something exciting about the
(Schulze 2013). In this regard, diaspora creation of new global cross-cultural
Koreans and English-speaking Koreans become communities via technological platforms that
valuable sources in internet fora and via user- remain relatively new and the role of South
1318 | 12 | 5
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Korea as a nation that has moved from the predilections of multiple discrete audiences.
periphery to the centre of popular culture The show’s representations and their domestic
production. At the same time, Crash Landing reception reflect the fortuitous and yet also
also demonstrates that the North Korean necessarily difficult timing of the show’s
experience has been co-opted and transformed creation and release: sketched out by its
into a bankable commodity that functions as an producers amidst unprecedented excitement
element of Hallyu and the expansion of South over inter-Korean relations, the ultimately
Korean soft power. short-lived nature of this optimism means that
the product at times appears incongruous.
Regardless, and in spite of determined, albeit
Conclusion fringe, opposition at home, Crash Landing can
be perhaps considered the fullest, most varied,
Like the metropolitan Seoul housing market,
and even most sensitive portrayal of North
Hallyu continues to defy predictions of
Korea yet seen in South Korean popular
declining value, and has gone from strength to
culture. Many viewers will readily perceive a
strength in recent years. From the historic
gulf in the portrayal of North Korea in Crash
Oscar awards for Parasite to the successes of
Landing with that of Hollywood films such as
K-pop groups like Blackpink and BTS , whose
The Interview, which persist in one-
ARMY fan club recently made news with its
dimensional, demeaning and Orientalising
million-dollar contribution to the Black Lives
representations. Crash Landing recognises that
Matter movement (Kwon et al. 2020), South
Korean popular culture continues its spread North Koreans may generally be poor and life
and influence. Dramas have long played a may be harsh, but strives to avoid stale tropes
crucial role in fostering Hallyu, and their global such as empty boulevards, goose-stepping
reach expands with each passing year. The soldiers and military parades with mock
success and spread of Crash Landing draws nuclear warheads. The show notes the
upon developments in which high-quality presence of shortages from consumer products
streaming services like Netflix take up South to hospital supplies, that blackouts are a
Korean content and encourage viewer- regular occurrence and that food is simple fare.
determined binge watching of subtitled But it also acknowledges that few are truly
versions (Ju 2019), as became even more hungry, though they exist, too, as a pair of
apparent with the coronavirus crisis. The beggar siblings in the marketplace attest. We
resulting eager international audience speaks encounter Pyongyang residents, and not just
to changing patterns in media consumption and the highest elite, in department stores, coffee
a level of awareness of Korean cultural shops and beer halls rather than on the streets
products that is growing unabated and now waving flags hysterically for passing members
makes them a central component of the global of the Kim family. While geopolitical
entertainment industry.17 manoeuvring beyond the show’s control may
have diluted the impact of its pedagogical
But a K-drama set in North Korea is not able to inclinations, Crash Landing succeeds on
exist solely as part of a cosmopolitan cultural multiple levels as an entertaining, well-made
mainstream. Crash Landing reflects a set of drama with a subtly educational mission, even
complex political phenomena. It enters if it ultimately reveals more about
international circulation as both an instrument contemporary South Korean understandings of
of soft power and as a contested text that North Korea than North Korean life itself.18
responds to social change, geopolitics, and
cultural consumption, as well as the
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