Ideologically induced biases against and in favor of particular age groups have been a stable part of North Korean culture since the country’s very beginning.

North Korean ageism has vacillated between two opposites: the disparaging of older people as alleged bearers of outdated mentalities while holding up the progressive youth, and the devaluation of the young for lacking the mountains of wisdom and loyalty of the elderly.

These changes have correlated with the overall goals of North Korean propaganda, such as legitimizing the country’s leaders.

AGE IN THE CHOLLIMA ERA

North Korea did not experience the riotous repudiation of the