Crash Landing on You and North Korea: Representation and Reception in the Age of K-Drama
Volume 18 | Issue 12 | Number 5 | Article ID 5408 | Jun 05, 2020 The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus Crash Landing on You and North Korea: Representation and Reception in the Age of K-Drama Stephen Epstein, Christopher K. Green Abstract surrounding media environment. We also add to a growing body of scholarship that situates South Korean dramas within broader social and political contexts. Keywords: Crash Landing on You; K-drama; Hallyu; South Korean popular culture; North Korean defectors; talbukja; Hyun Bin; Son Ye- jin Crash Landing on You (Sarang-ui bulsichak), a Crash Landing on You (Sarang-ui bulsichak), a 16-episode drama on South Korean cable 16-episode drama on South Korean cable channel tvN in 2019-20 that was also released channel tvN featuring top stars Hyun Bin and on Netflix, has drawn broad attention for its Son Ye-jin, has drawn broad attention for its storyline featuring a South Korean heiress unusual storyline: a South Korean chaebol stranded in North Korea who falls in love with heiress, stranded in North Korea after a an elite military officer. Though the show paragliding mishap, falls in love with a Korean invokes many formulae of South Korean People’s Army officer from an elite Pyongyang dramas, it also offers a detailed portrait of family. The first episode aired on 14 December North Korea, and, as such, is a crucial text for 2019, and the show wrapped up on 16 evaluating ongoing change in South Korean February 2020. Over the course of its tvN popular representations of its neighbour. broadcast, viewership rose week by week and Indeed, given the concerted use of North the show’s finale achieved almost a 22% Korean backdrops in Crash Landing on You and audience share in South Korea, the second the size and global extent of its audiences, the highest ever for a cable drama to that date.1 show is likely the most noteworthy South Equally notably, the near immediate subtitled Korean popular culture representation of North Netflix release of each episode in multiple Korea yet produced.
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