MUSIC AS A PROPAGANDA TOOL IN NORTH KOREA

This thesis probes into the music of communist North Korea, assessing how that nation’s government influences the creative output of its composers and performers in order to deliver propaganda supporting the foundation of both the North Korean Workers Party and the cult of personality surrounding the North Korean Eternal President Kim Il-Sung, his son Kim Jung-Il, and his grandson and current Chairman of the Workers Party, Kim Jung-Un. The research follows the history of the northern half of the Korean Peninsula from the conclusion of World War II, through the Korean War and the brutal purges of the 1950s, through the ascension of Kim Jung-Il in the 1970s and his eventual control of the country after his father’s death in 1995, to today, when Kim Jung-Il has died and Kim Jung-Un is consolidating his power.U of I OnlyUIUC School of Music polic