Among the many novelties that the 1990s brought to North Korean mass culture is the theme of the adoption of orphans who lost their parents during the ‘Arduous March,’ the famine that devastated the country toward the end of the century.

This trend introduced some interesting additions to the conventional Juche discourse of care for children and orphans.

DEVALUING THE “CALL OF BLOOD”

Traditionally, North Korean official discourse has played down the special bond between parents and children, considering state care as more beneficial to a child than living in a regular family.

Juche arts pushed the idea that