Research on Changes in North Korean Oral Materials Collection Published Before and After 1960: Centered on the Writers' Union and the Academy of Sciences

This paper analyzes aspects of the North Korean Writer Union’s storybooks published before and after 1960, as well as the North Korean Academy of Sciences’ People’s Creations and North Korean Oral Materials Collection (1964). The Writers’ Union of North Korea published children’s literature after 1953, and then published collections of tales such as Tales of Our Country (1958). Works with inconsistent authors were not subject to ideological revision until 1960. However, in 1960, the Academy of Sciences published People’s Creation, which emphasized the socialist class and the social artistry of folk tales. In fact, the North Korean Writer Alliance’s collection Seven Lords (1963) was influenced by the People’s Creations and included several anti-feudal patriotic tales. While Tales of Our Country (1958) contained no patriotic tales and only 5 anti-feudal tales, Seven Lords (1963) contained 13 anti-feudal patriotic tales. On the other hand, Tales of Our Country published in 1965, reprinted 22 stories out of a total of 32, referring to Tales of Our Country (1958) of the same name. Unlike Seven Lords (1963), Tales of Our Country (1965), which had limited influence from the Academy of Sciences, was rewritten based on Tales of Our Country (1958). This study compares representative collections published by the Writers’ Union of North Korean and the Academy of Sciences. This reveals that the Writers’ Union of North Korea reinforced anti-feudal patriotic folktales by referring to collections of the Academy of Sciences. Beginning with the publication of People’s Creations (1960-1962), the Korean Writers’ Union, under the influence of the Academy of Sciences, strengthened socialist education and clarified the development pattern of rewriting folktales.