March 21, 2023
Analysis

Has North Korea moved on from the mass games and its human pixel card stunts?

DPRK has not held mass games in two years, replacing card-flipping kids with video projections at New Year’s Eve concert

North Korea does not appear to have staged the country’s costly mass games propaganda spectacle in 2022 for the second year in a row, instead turning once again to video projection technology to replace the games’ human pixel animated backdrops for major state celebrations.

In place of over 17,000 young children filling up one side of Pyongyang's massive May Day Stadium and flipping large books of colored cards in unison to form a background of illustrations and slogans, a New Year’s concert held at the stadium on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 featured videos of similar content projected on a gigantic screen covering the same wide section of seats.