The drama is fun but it feels gross to set a romcom in north korea. People starve there, and anyone that watches…
The thing that many people from the outside can't believe is that North Korea does have an upper class, and strangely enough what seems to be a growing middle class (see my comment above explaining this). North Korea is like any other country that has a subset of its society that is poor. The South also has very poor people who suffer from starvation, did you know that? We just never hear too much about them in dramas & such; or they're mentioned in passing, but not focused on. That's one of the reasons why suicide among the elderly, esp in rural areas, is so high in South Korea.
So, in that sense, I don't feel bad about the drama portraying the North Korean upper class, despite the country having some very poor people. Every country has poor people.
All North Koreans - rich or poor - are subjected to the harsh treatment of their government in one form or another. The 'rich' may enjoy certain material privileges but they still live under the tyranny of constant surveillance, inability to move freely in their own country & can't travel abroad at will, lack of outside information, subjected to hard labour or severe punishment if any anti-state action is perceived etc etc. There are many movies - I don't know of any NK focused dramas - that address the plight of the poor in NK. Therefore, if this one drama decides to focus on the NK 'elite' ... I personally can live with that for 16 hrs. However, I do hope they make the characters address the plight of the less fortunate in some way or the other.
Is set in NK for real or is just an imitation of the country? I mean is like this NK? anyone knows?
North & South Korea have diametrically opposed political ideologies, communism vs capitalism respectively. Neither side want their citizens exposed to the other's ideology, therefore, South Koreans are strictly forbidden, by both the North & South Korean governments, from traveling to the North (and vice versa). It is part of the armistice agreement that was signed in 1953. An armistice is a seize fire, not a peace treaty so the two sides are still at war. That's why North & South Koreans can not move freely in each other's territory.
Under the current armistice agreement, any movement of North & South Koreans on each other's territory will technically be seen as a hostile move to overthrow the other's government & would likely trigger a new war - the 2nd Korean War - on the peninsula. Therefore, the only time South & North Koreans can go to each other's side is either on pre-approved inter-governmental assignments or if they defect. In other words, this drama in reality could never be shot in the North. It is shot in South Korea, Switzerland, and if I remember correctly ... Mongolia.
North Korea does have an upper class, many military personnel, Worker's Party officials & drug kingpins belong to it (some defectors guess they make up about 10% of the population). They enjoy relatively comfortable lives but nothing close to the upper classes of South Korea. North Korea's upper class would be similar to the South's middle class. But in this drama, they seem to be portraying the North's upper class as the same as the South's, which is erroneous ... but, it's a drama so a lot of suspension of belief is required, I imagine.
FUN FACT: North Korean society's middle class is actually growing, ironically enough. Many outsiders will find this hard to believe but apparently it's true as many recent defectors confirm this. The middle class in the North is growing because of oversea remittances to North Korea sent by defected citizens & drug trafficking. Besides middle to top military personnel, Worker's Party officials and the drug lords, the relatives of NK defectors enjoy the best standard of living in North Korea. Prior to the 2000s, defectors were seen as traitors & their family left behind would be shunned by society. Nowadays, defector families are respected because they have money that is shared or spent in the community & underpaid government workers welcome their bribes (in exchange for not reporting them to the government). Kim Jung Un's inability to meet the basic needs of his citizens, esp those of the lowest class, is causing more and more apathy toward the regime. Since their government can't feed them, the people's loyalty is shifting to those who can put money in their pockets & by extension food on their table - in this case, defector families.
I really really liked this and will definitely continue to watch but I'm curious about something.. I really don't…
You ask a very good question, which I'm sure many people at some point have wondered about or will wonder about after watching this drama so it's good that you asked. I'm no expert, but I do read extensively about the North and about North/South relations from a variety of sources (I am a very keen skeptic of western media when it comes to its collective reporting about countries outside the western hemisphere). My impression is that most South Koreans don't necessarily see the North Korean people as their enemy. They see the Kim family's despotic communist regime as the enemy. They see the Korean peninsula as one country - Korea, therefore Northerners are their countrymen & women just as much as Southerners are, but they (Northerners) have been held hostage by despots for 3 generations, ever since the country divided in 1952.
Moreover, just like in the South, North Korean men must serve the draft for 10 yrs (in the South, it's 2 yrs as is commonly known), which is an unusually long conscription, compared to many other countries, with very little pay or benefits (indeed many North Korean military personnel get involved in the illicit drug trade - either as drug users or drug pushers - or smuggling goods &/or people to sustain themselves). Only Eritrea has a longer conscription of 12 yrs.
It is said that drug abuse is rampant throughout all echelon of North Korean society, but esp in the military. This makes soldiers & other military personnel 'victims' in a way too, so even they aren't seen as enemies in the traditional sense, despite them being the protective & enforcement arm the Kim dictatorship. They're seen as hostages, forced to serve a wicked regime. And one can understand why because these are often very impressionable young men, recruited to the military as young as 14, indoctrinated & brainwashed, forced to serve for 10 yrs under very rigid & harsh living & training conditions, paid next to nothing, not given enough food to eat & have little to no personal freedoms. Many, one source I read said 3 of 5, are hooked on methamphetamine, cocaine or heroine, just to escape this harsh reality.
In South Korean entertainment, Northerners are very rarely portrayed in a negative light - at least not in anything that I've seen. They are instead portrayed as noble characters fighting for survival or justice - either for themselves or for a bigger cause. Their relationship with Southerners are often brotherly with both being protective of each other - which goes back to the fact that it is not the people who are seen as the enemy, but the government. So it's not surprising that the ML in Crash Landing is being portrayed in a positive light that will make the audience fall in love with him. That IS kind of the norm whenever there's a North Korean protagonist.
In real life, when men - and esp military men - defect to the South, they are usually subjected to very long, sometimes harsh, interrogations to make sure they're not spies. If the ML in this drama ends up defecting to the South we can expect that he'll go through the same thing, if the drama decides to stick to reality. I've written a lot, but hope this gives a bit of insight.
They won't end together. It's impossible. Even for Kdramaland.
LOL, ok Ahjussi, we'll see. But if I win ... how will you take responsibility? How about you have to watch a drama (in full, no dropping) of my choosing? ;)
You're all hypocrites. y'all weren't complaining about the age gap between the Count Your Luck Stars leads but…
They sure as hell wasn't complaining about the age gap in Encounter, Witch's Romance and Secret Love Affair either. The hypocrisy is real on this site.
They won't end together. It's impossible. Even for Kdramaland.
Ahjussi, it's not about the style of the drama, it's about the genre & the style of the writer. How many times have you seen dramas with a certain mood & tone end in an unexpected the way? Very rarely. At least in all the years I've been watching drama, I've never seen it.
That's because every genre has its formula & Korean writers very rarely, if ever, break away from it. The formula for romcoms calls for lighthearted comedy, romance, happy ending. Melodramas, lots of angst, crying, hospitals, white vans running people over, revenge most likely ... and maybe a happy ending, 50/50 chance. Crime ... badass tortured ML, cynicism, fight scenes ... usually no happy ending etc etc. You get the picture. Every genre follows its formula. I can't recall the number of times I've heard people lament the fact that they wanted a happy ending for certain dramas, but didn't get it because the genre of the drama calls for a sad ending (or vice versa). Crash Landing On You is a romcom & it's written by the same writer who wrote those other dramas (From Another Star & Blue Sea) so if she can make those impossible pairings work, she sure can & probably will make a North & South Korean (two creatures of the same species & from this planet) falling in love work.
I have to say that when I heard about this drama, I too, just like you, wondered how they will end up together. It's not like either of them can easily defect to each other's country. I also thought about the fact that the FL is a spoiled, rich, chæbol princess ... even North Korea's most elite families don't enjoy the type of wealth and luxury she's used to. So even if she does defect because she can't live without him, will she be happy for the long term? Or will their love fizzle out after the honeymoon period and she experiences all the restrictions & hardships of North Korean society?
If he defects, what will happen to his family left in the North? Maybe he will be transferred as a diplomat to another country & their relationship will be easier because they're on neutral ground? As you can see, I still wonder how the writer will pull it off. It's one of the reasons I'm looking forward to watching the drama.
But while I agree with you that the drama's premise presents an interesting challenge for our couple, the genre the drama falls into & the writer's penchant for writing stories with oddball couples reassure me somewhat. Nevertheless, I've decided not to watch this while it's airing ... just in case it has a crappy ending. Well, I probably wouldn't have watched it airing even if I was guaranteed a happy ending as I don't have the patience to wait on episodes ... Anyway, that's my 2 cents! Should be interesting to see which of one us ends up being right! :)
They won't end together. It's impossible. Even for Kdramaland.
Well, I think if Jun Ji Hyun ended up with an alien in You From Another Star and Lee Min Ho with a fish in Legend of the Blue Sea, I don't see why it should be unfathomable that these 2 human beings end up together, despite their warring countries...
I doubt if it can be accurate, first of all north Korea is very secretive the few journalist videos nearly revealed…
"Why are ppl hungry and poor if you really think north has a fertile ground for agriculture."
What kind of question is this? Where did I say I "really think north has a fertile ground for agriculture"?
I am aware of the poor soil quality & lack of quality fertilizers, however, agriculture wasn't the purpose of my post so I didn't go into detail about that. My point was to highlight the lack of alternative job opportunities in rural provinces. Regardless of poor soil, farming IS the only subsistence most rural North Koreans have. They may have poor harvests (which is why they often go hungry), however, that doesn't mean they stop farming all together. So my comment is factual.
Typical K-drama thing. :/ Which is actually sad... because I loved first two episodes! If 2nd leads are one dimensional…
I guess this sort of tomfoolery is what local audiences love since this tired old trope just will not die? I totally agree with you that it's annoying af! Which is why I was skeptical about this writer and this story from day 1. She had the same nonsense in her previous dramas too.
I doubt if it can be accurate, first of all north Korea is very secretive the few journalist videos nearly revealed…
I've watched a lot of documentaries on North Korea, both western made ones and ones made by the North's allies - China & Russia. There seems to be electricity in most homes in Pyongyang, but there are frequent power cuts throughout the day and night because the North's power grid is old & undeveloped. During the daytime when people are at work and at night after certain hours the power is cut because there's just not enough energy to source the whole city 24/7. Outside of Pyongyang, life for most North Koreans is said to be very dire - little or no electricity & very little food. Most people in rural North Korea are farmers and live off the land since there's very little industry outside of Pyongyang. Pyongyang seems to be the only semi-developed city in the entire country.
The ML is a top military leader, which may allow him a comfortable lifestyle in the capital or whatever military base he's on, but there would be stark differences between North Korean 'comfortable' and South Korean 'comfortable'. And this is where the discrepancy will lay in the drama, most likely. They will depict South Korean comfortable and pass it off as North Korean. But most viewers probably don't know anything at all about life in the North so they won't be able to tell what's accurate and what isn't. I think the writers and showrunners will exploit this ignorance among the audience, esp international audiences, and not bother to show how the North really is. The drama is, after all, a romcom so they're probably going to keep things very light and require a lot suspension of belief from viewers.
Just finished the second episode. I absolutely love the cast, Hyun Bin and Ye jin are the best. The only question…
America propagandizes its education system just as much as North Korea does. America hardly ever teaches the correct history of other countries, muchless their enemies, so I would take American education about most other countries, except those in Europe, with a HUGE clump of salt. I mean, they don't even teach accurate African American history in schools ... and that's history right in their backyard. If they distort information about a group of people that's a part of THEIR own history, one can only imagine how much they'd distort the truth about one of its sworn enemies. This is not to say that everything in the North is peachy. Clearly it isn't, but America loves to brainwash its own citizens, but condemn other countries for doing the same.
To be honest, the premise of the drama presents an interesting challenge. Like, how are these two going to make a romance work? I would have felt better if Kim Eun Sook was the writer behind this, although so many of her shows are a hit or miss for me. Usually it's because of casting, though, not story, which is why I think she'd've done a better job with this drama than the current writer. Here, the casting isn't too bad, but I'm afraid the writer is gonna botch the story. Also, I would have loved if Seo Ji Hye was the female lead instead of SYJ. She's really beautiful and a decent actress (loved her in Punch). I think she'd have better chemistry with Hyun Bin. While I like Son Ye Jin, I don't always find her act convincing, but let's see how it goes. Very iffy about this writer as her previous shows have just been meh for me, but I look forward to hearing the buzz.
1 
So, in that sense, I don't feel bad about the drama portraying the North Korean upper class, despite the country having some very poor people. Every country has poor people.
All North Koreans - rich or poor - are subjected to the harsh treatment of their government in one form or another. The 'rich' may enjoy certain material privileges but they still live under the tyranny of constant surveillance, inability to move freely in their own country & can't travel abroad at will, lack of outside information, subjected to hard labour or severe punishment if any anti-state action is perceived etc etc. There are many movies - I don't know of any NK focused dramas - that address the plight of the poor in NK. Therefore, if this one drama decides to focus on the NK 'elite' ... I personally can live with that for 16 hrs. However, I do hope they make the characters address the plight of the less fortunate in some way or the other.
Under the current armistice agreement, any movement of North & South Koreans on each other's territory will technically be seen as a hostile move to overthrow the other's government & would likely trigger a new war - the 2nd Korean War - on the peninsula. Therefore, the only time South & North Koreans can go to each other's side is either on pre-approved inter-governmental assignments or if they defect. In other words, this drama in reality could never be shot in the North. It is shot in South Korea, Switzerland, and if I remember correctly ... Mongolia.
North Korea does have an upper class, many military personnel, Worker's Party officials & drug kingpins belong to it (some defectors guess they make up about 10% of the population). They enjoy relatively comfortable lives but nothing close to the upper classes of South Korea. North Korea's upper class would be similar to the South's middle class. But in this drama, they seem to be portraying the North's upper class as the same as the South's, which is erroneous ... but, it's a drama so a lot of suspension of belief is required, I imagine.
FUN FACT: North Korean society's middle class is actually growing, ironically enough. Many outsiders will find this hard to believe but apparently it's true as many recent defectors confirm this. The middle class in the North is growing because of oversea remittances to North Korea sent by defected citizens & drug trafficking. Besides middle to top military personnel, Worker's Party officials and the drug lords, the relatives of NK defectors enjoy the best standard of living in North Korea. Prior to the 2000s, defectors were seen as traitors & their family left behind would be shunned by society. Nowadays, defector families are respected because they have money that is shared or spent in the community & underpaid government workers welcome their bribes (in exchange for not reporting them to the government). Kim Jung Un's inability to meet the basic needs of his citizens, esp those of the lowest class, is causing more and more apathy toward the regime. Since their government can't feed them, the people's loyalty is shifting to those who can put money in their pockets & by extension food on their table - in this case, defector families.
Moreover, just like in the South, North Korean men must serve the draft for 10 yrs (in the South, it's 2 yrs as is commonly known), which is an unusually long conscription, compared to many other countries, with very little pay or benefits (indeed many North Korean military personnel get involved in the illicit drug trade - either as drug users or drug pushers - or smuggling goods &/or people to sustain themselves). Only Eritrea has a longer conscription of 12 yrs.
It is said that drug abuse is rampant throughout all echelon of North Korean society, but esp in the military. This makes soldiers & other military personnel 'victims' in a way too, so even they aren't seen as enemies in the traditional sense, despite them being the protective & enforcement arm the Kim dictatorship. They're seen as hostages, forced to serve a wicked regime. And one can understand why because these are often very impressionable young men, recruited to the military as young as 14, indoctrinated & brainwashed, forced to serve for 10 yrs under very rigid & harsh living & training conditions, paid next to nothing, not given enough food to eat & have little to no personal freedoms. Many, one source I read said 3 of 5, are hooked on methamphetamine, cocaine or heroine, just to escape this harsh reality.
In South Korean entertainment, Northerners are very rarely portrayed in a negative light - at least not in anything that I've seen. They are instead portrayed as noble characters fighting for survival or justice - either for themselves or for a bigger cause. Their relationship with Southerners are often brotherly with both being protective of each other - which goes back to the fact that it is not the people who are seen as the enemy, but the government. So it's not surprising that the ML in Crash Landing is being portrayed in a positive light that will make the audience fall in love with him. That IS kind of the norm whenever there's a North Korean protagonist.
In real life, when men - and esp military men - defect to the South, they are usually subjected to very long, sometimes harsh, interrogations to make sure they're not spies. If the ML in this drama ends up defecting to the South we can expect that he'll go through the same thing, if the drama decides to stick to reality. I've written a lot, but hope this gives a bit of insight.
That's because every genre has its formula & Korean writers very rarely, if ever, break away from it. The formula for romcoms calls for lighthearted comedy, romance, happy ending. Melodramas, lots of angst, crying, hospitals, white vans running people over, revenge most likely ... and maybe a happy ending, 50/50 chance. Crime ... badass tortured ML, cynicism, fight scenes ... usually no happy ending etc etc. You get the picture. Every genre follows its formula. I can't recall the number of times I've heard people lament the fact that they wanted a happy ending for certain dramas, but didn't get it because the genre of the drama calls for a sad ending (or vice versa). Crash Landing On You is a romcom & it's written by the same writer who wrote those other dramas (From Another Star & Blue Sea) so if she can make those impossible pairings work, she sure can & probably will make a North & South Korean (two creatures of the same species & from this planet) falling in love work.
I have to say that when I heard about this drama, I too, just like you, wondered how they will end up together. It's not like either of them can easily defect to each other's country. I also thought about the fact that the FL is a spoiled, rich, chæbol princess ... even North Korea's most elite families don't enjoy the type of wealth and luxury she's used to. So even if she does defect because she can't live without him, will she be happy for the long term? Or will their love fizzle out after the honeymoon period and she experiences all the restrictions & hardships of North Korean society?
If he defects, what will happen to his family left in the North? Maybe he will be transferred as a diplomat to another country & their relationship will be easier because they're on neutral ground? As you can see, I still wonder how the writer will pull it off. It's one of the reasons I'm looking forward to watching the drama.
But while I agree with you that the drama's premise presents an interesting challenge for our couple, the genre the drama falls into & the writer's penchant for writing stories with oddball couples reassure me somewhat. Nevertheless, I've decided not to watch this while it's airing ... just in case it has a crappy ending. Well, I probably wouldn't have watched it airing even if I was guaranteed a happy ending as I don't have the patience to wait on episodes ...
Anyway, that's my 2 cents! Should be interesting to see which of one us ends up being right! :)
What kind of question is this? Where did I say I "really think north has a fertile ground for agriculture"?
I am aware of the poor soil quality & lack of quality fertilizers, however, agriculture wasn't the purpose of my post so I didn't go into detail about that. My point was to highlight the lack of alternative job opportunities in rural provinces. Regardless of poor soil, farming IS the only subsistence most rural North Koreans have. They may have poor harvests (which is why they often go hungry), however, that doesn't mean they stop farming all together. So my comment is factual.
The ML is a top military leader, which may allow him a comfortable lifestyle in the capital or whatever military base he's on, but there would be stark differences between North Korean 'comfortable' and South Korean 'comfortable'. And this is where the discrepancy will lay in the drama, most likely. They will depict South Korean comfortable and pass it off as North Korean. But most viewers probably don't know anything at all about life in the North so they won't be able to tell what's accurate and what isn't. I think the writers and showrunners will exploit this ignorance among the audience, esp international audiences, and not bother to show how the North really is. The drama is, after all, a romcom so they're probably going to keep things very light and require a lot suspension of belief from viewers.