Pyongyang chronicles: Why the DPRK is no fan of ‘The Lord of the Rings’

All education must be revolutionary, and Kim Il Sung University instructors had no time for fantasies of Middle Earth

Alek Sigley November 28, 2022

Pyongyang chronicles: Why the DPRK is no fan of ‘The Lord of the Rings’

Kim Jong Un (center), wife Ri Sol Ju (right) and top officials on a horse ride at Mt. Paektu | Image: KCNA (Dec. 4, 2019)

Editor’s note: The following is the third in a multipart memoir series written by Alek Sigley about his time studying at Kim Il Sung University.

About the Author

Alek Sigley

Alek Sigley is a PhD student at Stanford University's Modern Thought and Literature program, where he is writing a dissertation on North Korea. From 2018-2019 he studied for a master's degree in contemporary North Korean fiction at Kim Il Sung University's College of Literature. He speaks Mandarin, Korean and Japanese. Follow him on Twitter @AlekSigley.

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