North Korean Propaganda Posters

UPDATE (JUL 2015): It’s been a while, but just added about a dozen new posters and images to the Facebook page, plus posted a couple below.



UPDATE (DEC 2014): I added some new posters below (including a translation of the Korean on the movie poster promoting ‘The Interview’) and to the Facebook page. As always, thanks for stopping by and let me know if you have any posters you’d like translated.



UPDATE (JAN 2014): The propaganda posters and English translations have now been compiled into a brief ebook introducing North Korean history, culture, and ideology – WORK HARD FOR THE KIMS!, available now on Amazon, iBooks/iTunes, Nook, and Kobo. The images and translations in the book are from those below and on the Facebook page. Please let me know of other images you’d like to see translated.



UPDATES (9 Dec 2013, 25 Apr, 18 Jan, 7 Dec 2012, 15 Nov, 18 Oct): More images have been uploaded. Please feel free to suggest additional images you’d like to have translated.



In what will hopefully be an ongoing project, I’ve posted a few North Korean propaganda posters, with rough translations, to the Facebook page. Once there, click the photo to read the translation and related comments.



I’ll also add a few of the anti-American ones below, the first one is roughly translated as “Those who dare insult our dignity face a mighty punishment!” (it sounds much tougher in Korean). The poster is from the pro North Korean website http://uriminzokkiri.com/ (which itself translates as “our people’s path”).



North Korean Poster


For this one, the headband reads “U.S. military out!” (meaning, leave the Korean peninsula), while the main text reads “Repel the American invader” (to save us from misery and pain).



US Military OUT of KoreaI


Here, the North exhorts Koreans to “Kick out the Americans and unite the Fatherland!”.



Kick OUT the Americans! Unite the Fatherland! North Korean Propaganda Poster


Given the North’s improving missile capabilities, the image shown here is slowly becoming possible: “Start a war against us, we strike the American bastards first!”



Strike the US! North Korea Propaganda Poster


Big Kim, Little Kim, Lady Kim – Kim Il-sung, a young Kim Jong-il, and Kim Jong-suk (Kim Il-sung’s first wife and the father of Jong-il) out for a ride, the peak of holy Mt. Baekdu visible in the background.



Big Kim, Little Kim, Lady Kim



Pyongyang, the capital city of the revolution – let’s build it into a fantastic world class city!



Develop Pyongyang! - North Korea Propaganda Poster



The enemy who has spilled the blood of our people. Century-long nemesis. Death to the Americans!



Death to US! - North Korean Propaganda Poster



Not exactly a North Korean propaganda poster, but I thought people might be curious what the Korean on the poster says. The wording on the rockets is “A war is going to start.” Oddly prophetic, in a way. Also, at the very bottom of the poster, the Korean is simply a translation of the “From the Western capitalist pigs …” line in English at the very top of the poster.



The Interview Poster, with Korean translated into English
‘The Interview’ poster






Conserve Water!
Conserve Water!


Not always doom and gloom, war and politics, this poster simply urges people to conserve water at home (down to the last drop!).





intellectuals_socialism_lead

While holding a copy of the works of Kim Jong-il, (roughly) “Intellectuals! Socialism leads the way to science and technology!” Reminding once again of North Korean socialism’s unique emphasis on knowledge workers (teachers, artists, writers, etc.) in addition to the more typical focus on workers and farmers/peasants. Also note North Korea’s addition of the calligraphy brush of the intellectual to the traditional hammer and sickle communist emblem.



Once again, you can find more of the posters, with translations, on my Facebook page (it’s easier to upload and display photo albums there).


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