The Women Of North Korea: Icons, Heroines & Power Players

Analysis

The Women Of North Korea: Icons, Heroines & Power Players

Are the women we identify as prominent within the DPRK just as meaningful to ordinary North Koreans?

Gianluca Spezza January 30, 2013

The Women Of North Korea: Icons, Heroines & Power Players

NK News

Who are the female icons of North Korea? Are the women we identify as prominent within the DPRK just as meaningful to North Koreans? And who are the women that hold the real power in North Korean society? Over the course of two special features dedicated to the other half of the North Korean sky, we’re going to find out.

The pantheon of North Korea’s female figures can be divided into four groups:

About the Author

Gianluca Spezza

Gianluca Spezza earned his PhD in 2017 from the University of Central Lancashire under the supervision of Professor Hazel Smith, on the strength of research on the cooperation between UNICEF and the DPRK in education and childcare. Dr Spezza is an assistant professor of international relations and a senior researcher at the DPRK Strategy Center at KIMEP University in Almaty, Kazakhstan; he is writing a monograph on education, international cooperation, and human capital in North Korea (Palgrave 2021). His work on the DPRK, articles or interviews, can be found, among others, on the websites of the BBC, The Guardian, The Diplomat, IRIN News, NK News, DR.dk, Newsweek Korea, and El Confidential.

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