'Drones Done Cool': Why Did They Appear in a North Korean Drama?

[Anchor]

While drones are widely used for military purposes, they are also utilized in various other fields. North Korea has also been relatively active in promoting the use of drones, and drone-related episodes have even appeared in its television dramas.

Reporter Kim Ayeong reports.

[Reporter]

This is a rural-themed drama titled 'New Spring in Baekhak Plain,' which Korean Central Television first aired last year.

A female student at an advanced middle school, equivalent to a high school in South Korea, remains alone in a classroom.

[(What is this?) It is a drone. (A drone? Hahaha.)]

When the teacher bursts into laughter at her sudden declaration that she will design a drone, the student in the drama earnestly explains that her goal is to ease her mother's farming burden.

["I thought that if we spray pesticides and nutrient solutions using a drone, it might relieve some of the hardship for my mother, who works under the scorching sun 365 days a year."]

Before long, she completes the design, and with the help of a male student, she also secures a video on drone operating principles from the science and technology dissemination room.

Arriving home, the student proudly shows the results to her mother, who is just beginning to learn how to use a computer.

[(The drone seen on television? You?) Tomorrow, I will be submitting it to the national idea competition. (Wow. That really is amazing.)]

North Korea's inclusion of a drone episode in such dramas watched by its citizens is interpreted as an attempt to encourage the use of drones in the civilian sector as well.

[Jeon Young-sun / Professor, Institute of Humanities for Unification at Konkuk University: Applying science policy across the board is a fundamental policy of the Kim Jong-un era. It can be said that this appeared as a representative example of such application.]

In fact, articles introducing farmers in various regions carrying out agricultural activities using drones can often be seen in the Rodong Sinmun.

["Everyone, this is how farming is done by people, and done by science and technology."]

Apart from the North Korean authorities' military use, attention is focused on how well drone technology will take root in the daily lives of North Korean residents and on their agricultural fields.

Video by Jeong Sunghoon
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.