In the North, science fiction developed steadily through the 1950s, as initially it was associated with promotion of science and education, seen as crucial for the economic development and therefore endorsed by the
communist parties worldwide; it was also tied to
communist propaganda that juxtaposed communist approach to science, portrayed as disinterested, altruistic, and international, with capitalist one, focused on personal gain. The first science fiction story in North Korea appeared in a 1950 magazine "World of Science" (); it was a translation of a Soviet Russian science fiction story (
Vladimir Obruchev's "Planetary Flight"). The first works of science fiction created in North Korea appeared a few years later, after the
Korean War. Some early North Korean science fiction writers include
Sok Yun-gi (),
Pae Pung and
Hong Sung-won (
Last Lifeline, 1965). The development of North Korean science fiction was eventually curtailed from the late 1960s as it was not compatible with the
Kim Il Sung's personality cult and the
Juche ideology, which came to dominate the North Korea's political and cultural landscape, leading to the literary narratives heavily focusing on stories about anti-Japanese guerrilla warfare and
pioneers, preferably closely related to the figure of Kim Il Sung himself. Science fiction did not, however, disappear from North Korean literary landscape, and after a brief pause, North Korean magazines and publishers started to publish science fiction stories again in the mid-1970s. These stories universally praised progress (such as developments of
robots) attributed to the advancements in the "juche science". Effectively the stories that were allowed to be published were less about the possibilities of science, and more about promoting the strict adherence to party guidelines, which, if dutifully followed, would lead to a glorious future. In 1978, the North Korean government
abducted the South Korean filmmaker
Shin Sang-ok and his ex-wife, the actress
Choi Eun-hee. While in North Korea, Shin Sang-ok and Choi Eun-hee were forced to create seven films, including, most famously,
Pulgasari, a science fantasy
kaiju film heavily influenced by Japanese
tokusatsu films such as the
Godzilla franchise. The two escaped in 1986. The films produced by the two while in North Korea are considered to have been significant milestones in the history of
Korean cinema, and
Pulgasari later became the first North Korean film to be shown in South Korean theaters.
Pulgasari has also become a
cult classic outside of North Korea. North Korean science fiction literature saw a resurgence under Kim Jong Il due to his slight loosening of literary censorship, as he was an avid fan of foreign science fiction media. Nonetheless, North Korean works of science fiction tend to remain highly didactic and nationalistic (toeing the party line, portraying the might and superiority of peace-loving North Korea, expressing support for the country's leadership and disdain for duplicitous Western and capitalist countries). However, the figure of North Korean supreme leaders is generally absent in North Korean science fiction works, which has been explained by Korean literature researcher Kim Minsun, who wrote: "To imagine and project the future of this entity that can never be at fault is close to impossible". Modern major North Korean science fiction writers include
Yi Kŭmch'ŏl (''The Oil Field's Black Fog'', 2000), who has been described as one of the country's "most prolific science fiction writers", having developed "a unique style of spectacular science fiction that mixes
Cold War antagonism, spy novel tropes, and innovative military technology" (his works commonly portray
American imperialists as villains, defeated by advanced North Korean technology). Other North Korean science fiction writers include
Pak Chongnyŏl and
Yi Ch'ŏlman. It was estimated that by the mid-2010s, North Korean writers have published about a hundred or so science fiction works (mostly short stories), with Yi Kŭmch'ŏl being the author of about twenty. == In South Korea ==