The Differences Between North Korean Brands During Kim Jong Un Era and Former Leader Kim Jong Il Era

Lecture in Korean

Image by Nicholas Bonner, from "Made in 조선 North Korea, Graphics from Everyday Life in DPRK"

Moo Kyoung Lee, Ph.D., Professor, Konkuk University

Thursday, April 13, 2023
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

10383 Bunche Hall (10th floor)

Are there any North Korean brands that you know? Try naming them. Taedonggang Beer or Baekdusan Blueberry Gold Liquor might be the only brands that you can name. However, there are a lot of brands in North Korea. In-fact, there are several competitive brands, especially in tobacco, mineral water, beer, and cosmetic brands.

In the Kim Jong Un Regime, Kim focused on Industrial art (design) related to brands and promotion of commodities. He field-guided lots of brands' naming and designs through industrial exhibitions right after he obtained power. Computer-made designs are frequently used and he realigned administrative institutions of industrial art. That is a quite big leap in comparison with the former leaders.

Until Kim Jung Il's Regime, brand designs were old-fashioned and being a brand designer was not a promising job. The Industrial design department was allotted the lowest part in the Art division. Most of the designs were hand-made, not created with computers. They were very realistic and strictly informative due to socialist art regulation. In socialist art, brand design is not for marketing, but for customers' information.

However, in the Kim Jong Un Regime, there are several newly launched brands, with some designs that look like foreign luxury brands. Now, brand names are more important than designs. They use names that represent socialist ideals and national identities, such as Pyongyang, Baekdusan, and Sonamu. Joseun Goods, published by North Korea every year since 2018 to explore overseas markets, is a comprehensive bulletin on produced goods. In this presentation, Professor Moo Kyoung Lee will look into some features of the North Korean brands and designs shown throughout that book, as well as other attributes that reveal more about the thoughts and ideas behind those brands.

*Event is exclusive to CKS Visiting Scholars, graduate/undergraduate students, and faculty