North Korea orders TV dramas to be more entertaining, tightening ideological grip in the process

North Korea’s state film authority has issued a sweeping directive ordering its television drama production unit to make shows more entertaining and modern while tightening ideological controls across every element of production, sending writers and directors into a state of acute anxiety.

A source in Pyongyang told Daily NK that a “No. 1 directive,” a term denoting a supreme leader-level order carrying the highest degree of political authority, was issued in early May to the television drama production studio of the State Film Bureau, which oversees all film and drama production in North Korea and is located in the Moranbong district of Pyongyang. The directive sets out an entirely new framework for drama creation. “Everyone is gripped by fear that they will be held responsible if this directive is not properly carried out,” the source said.

On May 5, a solemn all-hands meeting was held in the bureau’s main conference room, attended by directors, writers, and other key creative personnel. An official from the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Korean Workers’ Party central committee, North Korea’s primary organ for managing ideology and culture, delivered the directive and framed drama production as “an invisible war defending against the ideological and cultural infiltration of imperialists.” All ongoing productions were ordered to be fully realigned with the new directive’s requirements.

Faster production, tighter controls

The directive’s contents span every stage and element of drama-making. Writers and directors are instructed to abandon the formulaic, ideologically rigid storytelling structures that have long characterized North Korean television drama and instead produce work with popular appeal, dimensional characters, and engaging narratives that draw viewers to their screens voluntarily. Dramas should depict the realistic everyday lives of ordinary North Koreans and allow protagonists to express inner conflict in a natural way, rather than simply embodying revolutionary loyalty.

At the same time, the directive imposes strict new standards on language, requiring all dialogue to conform to refined Pyongyang standard speech and prohibiting South Korean expressions, foreign loanwords, and vulgar slang. Costumes, hairstyles, makeup, and all on-screen props and furnishings must reflect socialist values and avoid any appearance of decadence or extravagance, with production teams instructed to establish and promote a modern yet modest aesthetic standard.

Productions are also directed to make active use of newly built streets and cultural facilities in Pyongyang as shooting locations, a move the source interpreted as a strategy to showcase Kim Jong Un’s construction achievements and improve North Korea’s external image through entertainment content.

Additionally, the directive calls for the existing multi-stage censorship review process to be streamlined and overall production timelines cut to less than half their previous length, an effective demand for a speed campaign in drama output.

The source said the mood inside the production studio has become one of intense pressure. Directors and writers have been holding overnight sessions and struggling through sleepless days since the directive was handed down. Veterans who have spent decades working within established production methods are finding the contradictory demands particularly crushing. “The veteran directors say they don’t even have the strength to pick up a pen,” the source said, “weighed down by the impossible task of achieving a modern sensibility while passing every ideological test.”

Because the directive carries the authority of the supreme leader, a production that fails to meet its standards risks consequences beyond a simple reprimand. Creative personnel fear that substandard work could result in expulsion or political purge.

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