We live in a hyper-networked world where joining online platforms and entering digital transactions play a pivotal role in spinning unique dynamics of today’s sociality. But what if our digital interface with the world is limited to a few state-sanctioned platforms? What if the most significant transactions we make must take place offline, not online? This talk explores the unique case of millennial North Korea, where the state is anxiously trying to catch up with the world standard of communication technology while also faced with the need to block the free influx of outside information. In a country where smuggling foreign media still can be punished by public execution, how do North Koreans manage to access outside information? This presentation explores the way in which the expansion of new media technology complicates North Korea’s seemingly monolithic facade mired in entangled networks of technology and surveillance, intellectual property and copyrights, and the way millennials live with censorship and surveillance.

Suk-Young Kim is Professor of Theater and Performance Studies and the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and External Engagement at UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television. She is an interdisciplinary scholar whose work primarily focuses on unearthing the historical roots of today’s popular culture. She is the author of numerous books on Korean culture, most recently Millennial North Korea: Forbidden Media and Living Creatively with Surveillance (Stanford, 2024). Her commentary on Korean politics and media have been featured in major media outlets, such as Billboard, CNN, NPR, NYT, WSJ, and her opinion pieces have been published by the Los Angeles Times and NBC.

Part of the Asia Research Institute's AsiaTalks series and Asian Studies Program's Asia@Noon series.