"For those accustomed to Russian propaganda, North Korean agitprop is a breath of fresh air in Moscow's art galleries. The All-Russian Decorative Art Museum is currently hosting the exhibition DPRK: Country of Great People, a showcase of the arts of Moscow's new ally in its disputes with the West. One part of the exhibition pays tribute to the participation of North Korean soldiers in the war in Ukraine, a collaboration the Kremlin initially denied."
"The man, wearing a cap with a double-headed eagle a symbol of Moscow as the supposed spiritual successor to the Byzantine Empire, the Third Rome between Europe and Asia points to a helmet in a painting. The object has a Ukrainian flag painted on it and lies upside down at the feet of a platoon of North Korean soldiers. The soldiers pose defiantly among the ruins of a burning city in Russia's Kursk region."
"The style of this and several other paintings in the exhibition resembles the War Exploits drawn by the Spanish cartoonist Boixcar during the Franco era. The only thing that has changed eight decades later are the heroes and the enemy: if in the comics of the post-war Spanish dictatorship of the 1940s and 1950s it was communism, in 21st-century Moscow it is the West."
The All-Russian Decorative Art Museum hosts DPRK: Country of Great People from September 9 to October 10, showcasing North Korean art and propaganda. One section honors North Korean soldiers portrayed as fighting in Ukraine, with paintings showing a helmet painted with a Ukrainian flag upside down amid ruins in Russia's Kursk region. Another section depicts smiling North Korean factory and workshop workers. The exhibition reaffirms the DPRK-Russia alliance and North Korea's attempts to emerge from international ostracism. The style of some paintings resembles 20th-century Franco-era comics, recasting the enemy as the West. Western estimates place about 15,000 North Korean troops sent in support of Russia.
Read at english.elpais.com
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