This volume represents the first comprehensive Western study of the state-controlled art system in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Portal situates North Korean art within its historical, political, and social contexts, showing how art production is governed by the ideological pronouncements of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. She compares North Korean socialist realism to earlier regimes (Soviet and Chinese) and analyses the institutional structures through which artists are produced, employed, promoted, and honoured. The book covers diverse art forms including painting, calligraphy, poster art, monumental sculpture, architecture, and applied arts. A notable section examines how archaeology has been consciously shaped to legitimize the regime's historical claims. The study reveals how art functions both as propaganda under totalitarian rule and, paradoxically, as a medium that can subtly subvert the regime's narrative.