“Comrades” — North Korea’s take on the popular sitcom “Friends”

In an effort to lighten the perception of his country, Kim Jong Un has commissioned a new television series in North Korea called “Comrades”, based on the successful American sitcom “Friends”.

The show follows six twenty-something North Koreans making their way through life, and downtown Pyongyang. The characters are also similar to their American counterparts, except that they’re communists:

Ra Chel Gwohg is a fashion enthusiast. In season three, she becomes an assistant buyer for the military, and introduces more edgy shades of khaki brown for the regime.

Maing Gangjoun is the mother hen of the group. She works as a cook in the army barracks just outside of Pyongyang. Maing is bossy and competitive, and she’s a perfectionist. She also loves to sing the national anthem, repeatedly.

Pu Booh Binfet is an eccentric masseuse and self-taught musician. Pu Booh lived in uptown Pyongyang with her mother, until her mother was killed in a border skirmish with the South Korean scum. Pu Booh tends to use her past misfortunes, such as her mother’s death, as sympathy ploys.

Jeiy Tai-Binhi is a struggling actor, but has had a few gigs in the propaganda films of the regime. He is also a simple-minded womaniser, and in season eight, he gets into trouble with the secret police for these tendencies.

Chung-Del Bing is a worker in a statistical analysis wing of the military. In the typically secretive methods of the regime, nobody really understands what Chung Del does at work.

Rho Gangjoun is Maing Gangjoun’s older brother. He is a professor of nuclear energy at Pyongyang University. [Spoiler alert] In season ten, Rho marries Ra Chel and they end up raising two wonderful boys in the glorious ways of communism.

The series has pulled in high ratings in North Korea. Although this is largely because it is the only program that the regime broadcasts. Kim Jong Un has denounced claims that the sitcom is promoting a political cause or point of view.