North Korean YouTuber On Why “Crash Landing On You” Was The Best K-Drama Depiction Of North Korea
On CLAB Girls‘s YouTube channel, a North Korean defector Kang Nara reviewed the hit K-Drama series Crash Landing On You and shared what’s real about North Korea as shown on the show.
Kang Nara shared that she actually had a chance to advise the Crash Landing On You production team on certain North Korean facts and that about 60% of the show’s portrayal of North Korea is accurate.
I got to help them out last summer. They came to interview me at a cafe. It’s a well made show… I would say about 60% of how North Korea is portrayed in the show is actually accurate.
— Kang Nara
According to Kang Nara, Crash Landing On You has recreated the average North Korean residence quite well. She pointed out that the team perfected the small details, like how the dining table comes without chairs so the family has to sit on the floor to eat.
And the curtains… The richer families in North Korea like to show off their wealth by adding lace curtains to their windows. So that was pretty well portrayed… And the kimchi cave! Since rural North Korea doesn’t get electricity, they don’t have refrigerators. They have kimchi caves where they store kimchi and that was also recreated well.
— Kang Nara
As far as the visuals go, Kang Nara playfully commented that captains like Hyun Bin do not exist in North Korea — to which the viewers had a hilarious reaction:
Okay, but captains like Hyun Bin do not exist in South Korea either.
— YouTube Viewer
However, she shared, the four soldiers look and sound almost natural. Their uniforms are also exactly like the ones actual North Korean soldiers wear, adding to the overall realness of the show.
I don’t know where they learned the North Korean dialect, but they are really good at it. Especially that one soldier Pyo Chi Su has it down to a T.
— Kang Nara
Kang Nara also revealed that North Korean women wear their hair tied, as it gets told in an episode. According to her, North Koreans consider it socially unacceptable.
It’s called saseukke when a woman has her hair down. People will comment on it, like ‘That saseukke of a weirdo’ or whatever. It’s considered unacceptable to have your hair down and wild like this. So everyone wears it in a ponytail. That’s why there is a scene that shows Hyun Bin tying Son Ye Jin’s hair. Yeah… Having your hair down is considered a sign of capitalism and not allowed.
— Kang Nara
And while the production team gets most of the North Korean fashion right, there is a scene in which the character Seo Dan (played by actress Seo Ji Hye) looks gorgeous in a trench coat and knee-high boots. Kang Nara quoted that both are rare in North Korea. In fact, she mentioned, such fashionable boots are not allowed at all.
This fashion is all too sophisticated. To be honest, not a lot of people wear trench coats in North Korea… Oh and those boots. Wearing boots like that is not allowed in North Korea. Those are called walenkki in North Korea. Women must wear their boots under their pants, to make them look like regular shoes. If you wear your walenkki to show like that, you’ll be pulled aside for inspection. So that was a big miss.
— Kang Nara
All in all, Kang Nara believed Crash Landing On You to be one of the best K-Dramas by far to depict North Korea as closely and accurately as possible. It’s no wonder the series is growing extremely popular among viewers!
Watch the full video here:
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