 | It's unlikely you will catch these two characters on your TV screens, as they are the North Korean cartoon characters Squirrel and Hedgehog (다람이와고슴도치). The first series came out on 1977, and ran for 24 episodes. The cartoon is pure propaganda, full of metaphors relating to the great strength of North Korea as a powerful nation. In the pilot episode, they featured a big strong friendly bear, who was also an unreliable alcoholic. Possibly a metaphor for the Soviet Union at the time. |
The production of episodes has been sporadic over the years, and due to this the animation style differs quite dramatically through the episodes. Many episodes are about defeating the evil imperialist weasels. And most of them feature stories around the character Geumsaegi the squirrel, who with the code-name "Blossom" has left the safety of Flower Hill and infiltrated the weasels as a spy. The cartoon has a reputation not only for its overt propaganda themes, but that for a kids cartoon that contains fluffy animals, it does contain some violent scenes and the deaths of characters.
The animation is produced by SEK Studio (Scientific Educational Korea), a government controlled studio run out of the capital city Pyongyang. There is a YouTube Channel dedicated to preserving all the episodes of Squirrel and Hedgehog that have made out of the country, many of them with added English subtitles.
Weird Retro Fact: The studio worked on the animation for the French cult sci-fi epic Gandahar (1988).
The animation is produced by SEK Studio (Scientific Educational Korea), a government controlled studio run out of the capital city Pyongyang. There is a YouTube Channel dedicated to preserving all the episodes of Squirrel and Hedgehog that have made out of the country, many of them with added English subtitles.
Weird Retro Fact: The studio worked on the animation for the French cult sci-fi epic Gandahar (1988).
