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North Korea’s Arirang Mass Games:
A cultural metaphor
Introduction: a cultural mystery
North Korea, in enigmatic isolation, is perhaps the least-understood culture on
earth. As Jan Aylsworth wrote in No Point in Looking for Hofstede’s North Korean Cultural
Values, to people “Googling North Korean cultural values, take note: There aren’t any (at
least that I’ve been able to find) within the academically sourced frameworks.” Aylsworth
goes on to use South Korean cultural dimensions as a proxy. Unfortunately, Korea was split
more than five decades ago; the western-shift cultural changes in South Korea have been
substantial and well-documented, while the transition of North Korea into a tightly-
controlled communist dictatorship must certainly have had a different impact there. In
Penn State’s Cultural Leadership Blog, Heidi Fleming similarly attempted to interpret North
Korean culture through Hofstede’s analysis of China. While China does share the
communist influence, the millennia-old traditional Korean culture was quite distinct. There
is a common western misunderstanding that all Asian cultures are essentially the same;
these are not.
The lack of understanding about North Korean culture has serious consequence.
As a college student visiting North Korea, American Otto Warmbier was arrested for
attempting to steal a propaganda poster from his hotel; eighteen months later he was
released in a comatose state and died a week later. The list of westerners’ culture-related
mishaps in North Korea is lengthy. This cultural divide is personal for me: my brother, Dr.
William Lovegrove, spent several summers teaching in North Korea at the Pyongyang
University of Science and Technology. That opportunity is now closed after a complex
sequence of events, each with cultural dynamics. Without the ability for social scientists to
study North Korean culture in person, a cultural metaphor might provide a critical starting-
point for outsiders entering the country. The Arirang Mass Games, viewed by dozens of
outsiders, can furnish that metaphor.
The Arirang Mass Games
“Mass games” are large group performances involving dance, gymnastics, music,
and, often, military displays. They have been prevalent among communist societies. North
Korea’s Arirang Mass Games have taken the concept to spectacular extremes; the Guinness
Book of World Records recognized it as the largest event of its kind in the world. May Day
Stadium, the world’s largest at 150,000 seats, hosts 100,000 performers for the program.
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They practice for many months in advance then perform repeatedly; the 2020 production
will run weekly for two months. Outsiders who see Arirang search for superlatives to
describe it. Jonathan Watts called it “one of the greatest, strangest, most awe-inspiring
political spectacles on earth” and said, “as a spectacle, there is nothing in the world – not
even the Olympic opening ceremony – that can compare.” Marc Kosciejew described it as “a
fantastical fusion of an impossibly largescale Broadway play, West End musical, Bolshoi
Ballet performance, Cirque du Soleil show, military parade, Rio de Janeiro carnival pageant,
Olympic opening and closing ceremonies, and Super Bowl half-time show. This description
is exaggerated but that is because this performance is on an exaggerated scale.”
The games are named after, and themed around, Arirang — a traditional Korean
song. The song laments the broken country and exults in its future unification; it, and many
derivative songs, are still sung with emotion by both North and South Koreans. The Games
are blatant DPRK propaganda; they do not try to hide it. The 2018 program was titled “The
Glorious Country”; the 2019 title was “People’s Country.” They are filled with Juche (the
official state ideology) and Kimilsungism. At the same time they are a window into North
Korean cultural orientation, and can function as an excellent metaphor to provide critical
insights into this veiled society. Kosciejew wrote, “there is more going on than only
ideology and politics. These games also materialize North Korean culture.”
Importance of the collective group
The Mass Games feature thousands of individuals performing as one, blending into a
stunning homogenous group. The countless tiny humans creating the action disappear into
vast waves of color and movement that wash across the stage. The backdrop makes this
effect most evident; 30,000 children each hold up a large book with colored pages to form
an ever-changing tapestry of art. Every child is completely obscured; the audience sees
nothing but a mesmerizing flow of images.
North Korea is described by Paul Chamberlain as “a totalitarian, dynastic ruling
regime” which “blended traditional social and governance values with some communist
concepts to dominate all aspects of a society that was far from egalitarian.” North Korea
stands at the extreme of a collective society; to marry, move, or even to travel requires
government approval. In it we see two classic correlations of collectivism: less freedom of
the press and lower human rights. This side of North Korea is evident, and its relationship
to the Mass Games is painful. The 100,000 performers, from small children to the elderly,
are not paid for their work. Choe Sang-hun wrote in the New York Times, “For years,
defectors from North Korea and rights activists have criticized the shows, saying children
were forced to train for the performance for months.”
Observers are quick to see the negative aspects; however, there is another side to
this cultural dimension that is reflected in the Games. Byung-Sun Oh noted that a Confucian
ethic remains strong there; it “puts great importance on harmony, cooperation, consensus,
and social solidarity among members of an organization. This contrasts with the Western
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emphasis on competition among the members of an organization and maybe the chief
factor determining the distinctive characteristics of organizational dynamics in Korea.”
Indeed, these Games have no individual winners; there are no medals, no champions. The
full power of this performance can only be achieved when each participant willingly
disappears into the harmonious cooperation of the group. Divergent forms of identity and
expression would destroy the effect, not help it; success requires conformity.
In fact, this dynamic can be a matter of life or death outside the stadium; each
individual must cooperate with others, pulling together and coordinating efforts, if they
hope to survive. Aylsworth said, “with a government that does such a horrid job of looking
out for its citizenry, we should expect reliance on in-groups to be essential for survival.”
Across the nine GLOBE dimensions, North Korea is probably most different from the United
States in this area of In-Group Collectivism.
High masculinity: a different form of competition
The Games’ spotlight on athletic activity raises questions about the role of
competition in the culture. While Byung-Sun Oh identified the cooperative and harmonious
approach of the individuals, the Games as a whole are an intensely competitive action of
North Korea against other nations. These are not individuals competing against each other,
but rather the collective group competing against the world. They are the largest mass
games in the world, with the largest number of performers in the world, in the largest
stadium in the world: all of those reflecting cultural masculinity features of admiring the
strong and their ability to achieve the highest levels of performance. Then North Korea,
normally closed to outsiders, invites tour groups from around the world to come witness
the spectacle. Hofstede’s cultural correlations related to masculinity also hold true in North
Korea, as these societies have higher rates of illiteracy and more people living in poverty.
Short-term orientation: progress bound by tradition
Udo Merkel explained that “more than any other country, everyday life in North
Korea is full of symbolic practices, prescriptive and participatory rituals and scripted,
thoroughly rehearsed performances.” North Korea’s short-term orientation worships the
past (literally); adhering to it is morally good, and other cultures are evil. The national
pride is not simply patriotic flag-waving; it is a deep sense of moral right. The Mass Games
are unabashedly and entirely propaganda, from the first moment to the last; to a North
Korean, however, this is a celebration of good. Since the national movement is morally
right, it must never change.
The Mass Games reveal that this cultural dimension is not so simple. The Games
have had the same topical theme every year since they began in the 1950s: Arirang, or the
unification of the two Koreas. This theme, desiring future change, is being celebrated in a
culture that worships the past and present. The Games’ message of forward progress and
change has only strengthened and become bolder in the last decade. For government
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leaders, there is no option but change; the country is destitute, and maintaining the status
quo would lead to certain collapse. Research has shown that in poorer countries, long term
orientation makes economic growth go faster but short-term orientation causes stagnation;
in the North Korean extreme that stagnation is equivalent to destruction. The result is a
paradox, celebrating tradition while longing for a different future. Lisa Burnett argues “that
this seeming paradox can be resolved by viewing North Korean nationalism as primarily
future-oriented, with a focus on the promised utopian society yet to come.”
The Games provide an additional insight. Hofstede noted that the short-term
orientation leads a society to focus on “saving face” and hiding weaknesses. The
unparalleled scale and brilliance of the Games attempts to counter North Korea’s
reputation as the planet’s miserable backwater. A production of this magnitude is comically
impossible anywhere else on earth. Arirang leverages Korean societal strengths to their
utmost while minimizing weaknesses. This also exposes the Korean high-context culture,
which prefers indirect and ambiguous communication: the entire production is a loud but
indirect argument against the world’s view of North Korea as incompetent.
Avoiding uncertainty
North Korea, unlike their neighbor China, displays a high degree of uncertainty
avoidance. It shows classic indicators: slow adoption of technology, a need for rules, and a
feeling that “different” equals “dangerous.” The Mass Games reveal another side of
uncertainty avoidance, as a mechanism for emotional release. Hofstede pointed out that
uncertainty-avoiding societies often vent aggression (like launch tests of nuclear missiles)
and emotion. After seeing the Games, Watts observed that they are not only technically
astonishing but also “emotionally compelling… a genuine tear-jerker.” The response of the
audience is also emotional and heart-felt.
Power Distance
Hofstede lists the characteristics of a society with extremely high power distance.
His list could function as a description of North Korea; for example, more income
inequality, a smaller middle class, a dictatorship, and change requiring a revolution. Two of
the characteristics on his list are prominently exposed by the Arirang:
In these cultures, superiors are actually superior beings; in North Korea, they are
viewed as literal deity. Though every year the content of the Games is different, the
exaltation of the Great Leader is a consistent thread running through them. Martin
Gannon referenced the research of Harry Triandis and Alan Fiske, which found that
in high-power collectivist societies, there are two major forms of relationship
between the leader and the people: paternalistic or authoritarian. North Korea is
the first; the leader is portrayed as a kind god-father. Reality might be different.
In these cultures, power comes first, good and evil after. This was demonstrated in
an astonishing manner in 2019 when Kim Jong-un suspended the Games after
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watching the opening performance. Choe Sang-hun, reporting in the New York
Times, said, “the leader had ‘seriously criticized’ the creators of the current show ‘for
their wrong spirit of creation and irresponsible work attitude, pointing to the
contents and forms of the performance.’”
While these characteristics are standards of high-distance societies, there is complexity to
the distance culture of North Korea. Paul Chamberlain explained, “Kim Il-sung significantly
changed the work force by reversing the social order…. Kim elevated ‘factory workers,
laborers, and poor farmers’ over scholars, landowners, and others formerly favored in
Korea’s Confucian society.” The Games showcase this elevation of the common man; even
the star performers are unnamed children of the working class.
That reversal of social order did not change the outcome, however; Chamberlain
went on to say, “The system provided the privileged with significantly better housing,
education, and medical care… than less privileged members of the society.” Society is now
divided into 51 class categories, clustered in three main groups: elite, ordinary, and
undesirable. Hofstede notes that collectivism means one “knows one’s place” in life, which
is determined socially.
Looking around the stands at the Games, this class divide is apparent; the audience
is clearly upper-middle-class and above. The audience is also divided, with the elite in a
separate section, the highest government authorities in another, and Kim Jong-un’s row
standing out on a concrete projection above the crowds. When high power distance occurs
in a culture which also avoids uncertainty, there will always be a pyramid of people:
someone at the top, and everyone else in their proper place below. This dynamic is on
display at the Games.
Indulgence/Restraint
Hofstede found that in a restrained culture, the feeling is that life is hard, and duty—
not freedom—is the normal state of being. The work ethic that is strong in these cultures
shows itself in the Games; every viewer marvels at the amount of work and practice
required to achieve the spectacle. In restrained cultures, sports is something you watch
others do. Merkel reports that even conservative estimates indicate at least eight million
North Korean spectators attended Arirang in 2002, 2005 and 2007 (the Games are not held
every year). In a society which is economically wretched and incapable of preventing mass
starvation, there is little room for indulgence in any form. The Games might be a sort of
societal indulgence, but even within them the individual effort is restrained to blend in with
the group as a whole.
The happiness factor
North Korean culture is entirely Asian, yet with distinctive characteristics that are
complex and unique. In some cases, those distinctions are surprising. Sunny Kim defected
from the country at age 12. She was interviewed by Asian Boss as an adult in 2016:
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Interviewer: Would you say North Koreans are pretty stressed out in general, or are
they happy with what they have got? How happy are they?
Sunny Kim: In my opinion, even if people are starving and having a tough time, they
are always laughing.
I: Oh, really?
SK: Yes, all the time.
I: They really laugh a lot?
SK: Yeah, a lot. I think, the more well off a country, the more stressed the people
because they think too much. North Korea may be a poor country but North Koreans
have more warmth and really care for one another. I think they are generally very
happy.
Many outsiders who observe the Arirang Games comment on the obvious, authentic joy and
delight displayed by both the performers and the North Korean audience members.
“Happiness” is defined and studied by sociologists in a variety of ways. The Social
Indicators Research journal uses a measurement of Subjective Well-Being, SWB, which they
correlate to happiness. Their research seems to indicate that North Korea’s unique
combination of Power Distance, In-Group Collectivism, and abject poverty result in this
society of “happy” people. Whatever the cultural dynamics that lead to this surprising sense
of happiness among misery, those of us immersed in western cultures would do well to pay
attention to the perceptive insight of Sunny Kim: “the more well off a country, the more
stressed the people.”
Summary
Arirang is a portrait of North Korea: beautiful people in an overbearing collective
society with traditional roots. The Games reflect many of the important values and
behaviors of the Koreans, including their short-term orientation, high power distance, and
competitive spirit. Most importantly the Games reveal deep yearning for progress and a
better future; this desire might be the key for North Korea to break free from its oppressive
shackles.
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