Ri Chun-hee is a name you’ve probably never heard of, but it’s a face you’ve definitely seen before. For many North Koreans, she’s the most frequent face they see on TV. Aside from their supreme leaders, of course. She is actually one of the most interesting figures to come out of the country, so let’s take a deeper dive into her life.
1. Born In An Unbroken Korea
Ri Chun-hee was born in 1943 in Tongchon, Gangwon Province during the last years of the Japanese occupation of Korea. She grew up during a period of massive political and social changes, which might explain some of the moves she made in her future.
2. A Largely Unknown Past
While it’s known that Ri grew up in an extremely poor household, most things about her childhood still remain unknown. This is mainly because North Korea keeps a tight leash on information about public figures, and it’s hard to be more public than her.
3. Studying Drama
By the time North Korea became a thing, Ri started going to the Pyongyang University of Dramatic and Cinematic Arts, where she started studying performance arts. Drama was always sort of her thing, and it would play a huge role in her eventual persona.
4. Becoming A Newsreader
In 1971, Ri became a newsreader at KCTV, North Korea’s state-owned news channel. Unlike most relatively “boring” newsreaders, Ri decided she would make herself stand out…
5. A Unique Style
Ri would often use some of her drama training to help her read the news. Her news reads were, well, dramatic. She would always make every story a spectacle that had North Koreans glued to their screens. The style was a risk, but it worked.
6. The Perfect Match
Ri’s unique style was exactly what North Korea’s government was looking for. The state needed a way to spread its propaganda, and a captivating personality like Ri was the perfect way to get it out.
7. Expanding Her Role
Ri’s initial broadcasts were mainly general news topics along with cultural stories, but seeing how popular she was becoming, the North Korean government decided to expand her role over time. She became the go-to for announcing major state announcements.
8. Rapid Ascent
Within just three years of joining KCTV, Ri became the lead anchor. She was the highest-ranked employee on her station, and it mainly had to do with the fact that she was consistently aligned with the Kim dynasty’s goals and was extremely skillful at her job.
9. Turning It Up A Notch
After she became the lead anchor on the station, Ri started to use even more of her theatrical background in her broadcasts. She added some theater basics like voice modulation, pauses, and really aggressive gestures to emphasize the importance of each story.
10. Becoming A Style Icon
One of the most crucial parts of Ri’s entire persona was her attire. She almost always wore a traditional Korean dress called the Choson-ot. The outfit was a symbolic choice, and many Koreans started to find it fashionable again because of her.
11. The Death Of The Founder
Ri Chun-hee became arguably the most important voice in the country by the 90s. In 1994, she was chosen to be the first person to announce the death of North Korea’s founder and Supreme Leader, Kim Il-Sung.
12. The Leader’s Favorite
Before his death, it’s believed that Kim-Il-Sung had a close friendship with Ri. His trust in her was precisely the reason she was chosen to announce his death, and it might be the reason why she stuck around for so long after it.
13. A Rallying Cry
Whenever North Korea got into any sort of geopolitical trouble, Ri was always prepared to soften its blow to the local audiences. She would rile up her viewers through patriotic speeches and propaganda, and it worked surprisingly well at keeping the population calm.
14. Becoming The Pink Lady
Ri also came to be known as the “pink lady” by some viewers, especially foreign ones. It was her color of choice for most broadcasts, especially the important ones, and it’s something that really made her stand out among the rest.
15. New Leadership
Under the leadership of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, Ri became an even more prominent figure in North Korean television. She was honored due to her ties with his father, and she became the person to announce both Kim Jong-Il’s rise to power as well as his eventual demise.
16. Secretive Personal Life
Beyond what we know about Ri as a public figure, very little is known about her current personal life. It’s about as secure as any other high-ranking North Korean government official, which shows just the kind of position she holds in the secretive country.
17. Public Perception
In a country like North Korea, there isn’t much to look up to aside from what the government allows you to look up to. But Ri holds a unique position here. She rose to power because of how much the public already loved her. She was the perfect link the government needed to connect to the masses.
18. An International Figure
Aside from being wildly famous at home, Ri is also really famous outside of her country. For many of us, she’s one of the most prominent faces to come out of there. Of course, most of the international discourse around her is negative, due to the fact that she’s a propaganda arm for the oppressive government, but her unique style and personality have captivated the world at large.
19. A Symbol Of North Korea
For better or for worse, Ri is simply a symbol of what North Korea is as a nation. Traditional, jingoistic, strict, loud, abrupt, and any other way you can describe it. She’s a personification of the country itself, and she might be the only notable cultural export from there.
20. Inspiring Other Propagandists
And following in Ri’s footsteps, many other oppressive countries tried to create a version of their own. The most famous example is arguably Iraq, where Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhat, better known as “Baghdad Bob,” often copied her entire style while he propagated the message of Saddam Hussein.
21. Breaking The Marriage Story
Even in recent years, Ri still remains prominent. She broke many important stories in North Korea, including Kim Jong Un’s marriage to Ri Sol-Ju, whom he had been rumored to have been married to for quite a few years.
22. Retiring
Eventually, in 2012, Ri Chun-hee announced she would be retiring as North Korea’s primary news presenter. Her role is now mostly off the screen, and she trains upcoming news anchors to try and mimic her style.
23. Gifts From The Government
After retiring, Ri was given a luxury house in Pyongyang in a neighborhood that only elite government officials could live in. Ri described her new home as being like a hotel, and she said that she was forever grateful to the party. I guess years of service to a dictatorship comes with its benefits.
24. Ri Today
Today, Ri mostly works behind the scenes, coming out of retirement every now and then to break major news stories like Kim Jong Un’s marriage or the Korean Summit with Donald Trump. You may not agree with her views or her country itself, but you can’t deny the fact that she’s one of the rare few self-made individuals in North Korea.