People's Prize

People's Prize
Awarded forBest achievements in creative fields
DateSeptember 8, 1958 (1958-09-08)–present
CountryNorth Korea
Presented byPeople's Prize Awarding Commission

The People's Prize (Korean: 인민상) is a North Korean arts and sciences award. It is awarded by the People's Prize Awarding Commission, which is working directly under the Cabinet of North Korea.[1] The prize can be granted to works of art or people. People's Prize has been an important award in the field of North Korean cinema.

The works and people that have received the People's Prize cover such varied fields as literature, gymnastics, Korean revolutionary opera, acupuncture and sculpture. The People's Prize has been received by people abroad.

History

The People's Prize was instituted on 8 September 1958.[2]

The first North Korean feature film My Hometown (1949) was directed by Kang Hongshik. It was the first of a film series to be awarded People's Prize. Kim Il Sung praised many of People's Prize winning movies from 1960s and 1970s of supplying an exhaustive answer to the issue of people's Chajusŏng [ko].[3] The Workers' Party gives the award to those North Korean films and film-makers seen as fulfilling the role of an "excellent textbook" for the workers party.[3]

Some of the works, which did not become recognized as "Immortal classics", did earn People's Prize meant only for the best productions. One such production is a three-part film Five Guerilla Brothers (1968) directed by Choe Ik-gyu, and overseen by Kim Jong Il himself. Other films overseen by Kim to win the People's Prize were A Flowering Village and A Family of Workers (1971). In the case of the A Family of Workers, Kim Jong Il was reportedly not satisfied with the application of the seed theory.[4][5] However, some of Kim Jong Il's movies, such as Sea of Blood (1968) and Flower girl (1972), became "Immortal classics".[6]

In 1965 the Chongryon established Chosun University's teaching staff in Japan received the prize.[7]

Many of the works to obtain People's Prize are still highly regarded in North Korea. Reminiscences of the Anti-Japanese Guerillas is regarded as classic of literature of the Workers' Party, and was awarded People's Prize in 2012. It is still used in daily ideological study sessions at workplaces, and many of the memoirs have later been made into movies.[8][9]

People's Prize winner Kim Song-gun's major work Waves of the Sea Kumgang was used as a background for a group photo with Kim Jong Il and Bill Clinton during Clinton's visit to North Korea in 2009.[10] Kim Song-gun received the award for his painting Waves of the Sea Kumgang in 1999.[11]

List of works and people having received the prize

The Chollima statue, unveiled on 15 April 1961, has received the People's Prize.[12]
Kim Jong-il shaking hands with Vladimir Putin in front of Kim Song-gun's Waves of the Sea Kumgang, a People's Prize winner.

Arts

Books

See also: North Korean literature

Education

Gymnastics

See also: Mass games

Movies

See also: Cinema of North Korea

Musical plays

Revolutionary opera

See also: Korean revolutionary opera and List of North Korean operas

Science

See also

References

  1. ^ Robert A. Scalapino; Chong-Sik Lee (1972). Communism in Korea: The society. University of California Press. p. 1395. ISBN 978-0-520-02274-4.
  2. ^ Weiser, Martin (8 January 2016). "Chests Full of Brass: A DPRK Political History in Orders, Medals, Prizes, and Titles". Sino-NK. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  3. ^ a b Lee 2000, pp. 37–42.
  4. ^ Johannes Schönherr (13 August 2012). North Korean Cinema: A History. McFarland. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-7864-9052-3.
  5. ^ Bradley K. Martin (1 April 2007). Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty. St. Martin's Press. p. 252. ISBN 978-1-4299-0699-9.
  6. ^ Cheung, Helier (2 January 2014). "Ten things: North Korea's film industry". BBC. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  7. ^ a b "1965年". Chongryon (in Korean). 2001. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  8. ^ a b "Publication of Books on Greatness of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il Observed". KCNA. 27 March 2012. Archived from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  9. ^ "Reminiscences of Anti-Japanese Guerrillas, True Textbook of Life". KCNA. 2 February 2006. Archived from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
  10. ^ "Why dictators love kitch". www.nkeconwatch.com. 27 August 2009. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  11. ^ "Kim Jong Un Sends Birthday Spreads to Intellectuals". KCNA. 14 September 2015. Archived from the original on 8 September 2017. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  12. ^ a b "Chollima Statue, Symbol of Juche Korea". KCNA. 15 April 2006. Archived from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  13. ^ "Samjiyon Revolutionary Battle Site". KCNA. April 2000. Archived from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  14. ^ "KIM Song Gun". galerie son. Archived from the original on 6 April 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  15. ^ Korean Film "Musician Jong Ryul Song" [Subtitles] / 조선영화 《음악가 정률성》. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  16. ^ Myers, Brian (1994). Han Sŏrya and North Korean Literature: The Failure of Socialist Realism in DPRK. Ithaca: East Asia Program, Cornell University. p. 191. ISBN 978-0-939657-84-1. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  17. ^ "Book "Among People"(Vol. 100) off Press in DPRK". KCNA. 26 March 2012. Archived from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  18. ^ a b c "Anniversary of Korean Mass Gymnastics Production Company Marked". KCNA. 10 November 2011. Archived from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  19. ^ a b "Mass gymnastic display in Korea". KCNA. 16 June 1988. Archived from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  20. ^ a b "Mass gymnastic display production unit 29 years old". KCNA. November 2000. Archived from the original on 30 August 2004. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  21. ^ "40th Anniversary of Korean Mass Gymnastics Production Company Celebrated". KCNA. 10 November 2011. Archived from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  22. ^ a b c d T'ae-u Ko (2015). 북한사 다이제스트 100. Digest 100 series (in Korean). Karam Kihoek. ISBN 9788984353398.
  23. ^ a b c d e f g h Lee 2000, p. 37.
  24. ^ Lee 2000.
  25. ^ Lee 2000, p. 35.
  26. ^ Hyangjin Lee (2000). Contemporary Korean Cinema: Culture, Identity and Politics. Manchester University Press. p. 199. ISBN 978-0-7190-6008-3.
  27. ^ David-West, Alzo (2009). "The Literary Ideas of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il: An Introduction to North Korean Meta-Authorial Perspectives" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 November 2015. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  28. ^ So, Hui Jo (2021). The Dream Comes True. Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House. p. 40. ISBN 978-9946-0-2002-0.
  29. ^ Yonhap News Agency, Seoul (27 December 2002). North Korea Handbook. M.E. Sharpe. p. 948. ISBN 978-0-7656-3523-5.
  30. ^ "Singer Remaining in Memory of Korean People". KCNA. 28 January 2012. Archived from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  31. ^ Kim, Bong-han (1962). "Editor's note". Great discovery in biology and medicine: substance of Kyungrak. Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House. p. 4.
  32. ^ "Meritorious scientist enjoys eternal life". KCNA. 30 September 1999. Archived from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2015.

Sources