What Survives of Shamanic Folk Belief?

Introduction

North Korea officially promotes an atheist, state-centred worldview, yet older Korean ideas about spirits, ghosts and the dead have not simply vanished. Evidence from folklore collections, North Korean publications, academic studies and defector testimony suggests that private belief has often survived beneath official ideology, especially in times of uncertainty, illness, bereavement and economic hardship. The result is not a separate public religion but a fragmented world of inherited customs, whispered spirit beliefs and occasional shamanic practices that persist alongside the state’s political narratives. Because access to everyday life in North Korea is limited, the picture is incomplete, but enough evidence exists to show that older supernatural traditions remain an important part of understanding how folklore survives under ideological pressure.[go.kr]kci.go.krA Study of North Korean Folk Beliefs Presented in Joseon…by 김은정 · 2024 — This study's purpose is to investigate North Korean folk b…

What Survives of Shamanic Folk Belief?

Korean shamanic tradition developed long before the modern division of the peninsula. It centred on communication with spirits, guidance for the dead, protection of households and explanations for misfortune. North Korea inherited this cultural background, but after 1948 religious activity was officially discouraged or suppressed as the state promoted scientific materialism and loyalty to the ruling system. Even so, folk beliefs proved difficult to eliminate completely.[Scientific Research Journal]scientificresearchjournal.comScientific Research Journal Korean ShamanismScientific Research JournalKorean Shamanism - Scientific Research JournalMay 8, 2024 — by P JAISWAL — The core of Korean culture is Shama…Published: May 8, 2024

A recent study of North Korean publications aimed at women found repeated official efforts to criticise fortune-telling, spirit practices and folk religion, while simultaneously revealing that such beliefs continued to appear in everyday life. The persistence of these practices was linked to practical concerns such as health, family welfare and uncertainty about the future. Rather than disappearing, folk belief adapted to new conditions and often moved into the private sphere.[KCI]kci.go.krA Study of North Korean Folk Beliefs Presented in Joseon…by 김은정 · 2024 — This study's purpose is to investigate North Korean folk b…

For folklore researchers, this creates an unusual situation. The underlying traditions are part of the wider Korean heritage, but direct observation inside North Korea is rare. Much of what is known comes from older northern folklore records, refugee testimony and occasional references in North Korean publications themselves.[KCI]kci.go.krA Study of North Korean Folk Beliefs Presented in Joseon…by 김은정 · 2024 — This study's purpose is to investigate North Korean folk b…

Princess Bari and the Dead

Among Korean shamanic narratives, the story of Princess Bari is especially important because it concerns death, the afterlife and the relationship between the living and the dead. In the best-known versions, a princess abandoned at birth undertakes a dangerous journey to obtain life-giving water and resurrection flowers, eventually becoming a guide for souls travelling to the next world. The tale forms the mythological foundation for many Korean funeral rites and ceremonies intended to assist the dead.[wikipedia.org]WikipediaKorean mythologyKorean mythology

The story was not confined to southern Korea. Folklore records preserve northern variants, including versions collected in what is now North Korea’s Hamgyong region. These northern versions differ in important ways: the heroine’s journey is altered, her divine role is reduced, and local spirit figures take over some of her functions. Such differences show that northern Korea developed distinctive regional interpretations rather than simply repeating a single national tale.[Wikipedia]WikipediaKorean mythologyKorean mythology

The significance of Princess Bari in the North Korean context lies less in public storytelling today than in what the tale reveals about older assumptions concerning death. The narrative assumes that souls require guidance, that the boundary between worlds can be crossed and that ritual specialists have a role in helping the dead. These ideas belong to a worldview very different from official state ideology, yet they remain embedded in one of Korea’s most enduring folk narratives.[Wikipedia]WikipediaKorean mythologyKorean mythology

Household Spirits, Ghosts and Goblins

Many traditional Korean supernatural beliefs concerned ordinary domestic life rather than grand myths. Houses, kitchens, storage areas and family spaces were often imagined as places inhabited by unseen forces. People might blame illness, bad luck or unexplained events on angry spirits, wandering ghosts or supernatural beings associated with particular locations. These beliefs were traditionally managed through offerings, rituals or consultation with shamans.[Scientific Research Journal]scientificresearchjournal.comScientific Research Journal Korean ShamanismScientific Research JournalKorean Shamanism - Scientific Research JournalMay 8, 2024 — by P JAISWAL — The core of Korean culture is Shama…Published: May 8, 2024

Direct evidence from North Korea is patchy, but accounts from defectors and researchers suggest that beliefs in ghosts and restless spirits continued to circulate privately even when public discussion was discouraged. Reports from the famine years of the 1990s and their aftermath indicate that some people increasingly sought fortune-tellers or ritual specialists when faced with uncertainty, bereavement or economic disaster.[NK News - North Korea News]nknews.orgNK NewsNorth Korea NewsShamanism spreading in N.Korea since '90s famine: Defector1 Sept 2015 — Shamanism has been spreading in North Korea since…

Such beliefs do not necessarily imply formal religious commitment. Folklore often survives as habit, suspicion or inherited caution. A person may avoid a place thought to be haunted, worry about an unsettled spirit or consult a fortune-teller during a crisis without identifying as religious. This blurred boundary between custom and belief helps explain why folk traditions can persist even in strongly ideological societies.[KCI]kci.go.krA Study of North Korean Folk Beliefs Presented in Joseon…by 김은정 · 2024 — This study's purpose is to investigate North Korean folk b…

Private Belief in an Official State

The most distinctive feature of North Korean folk belief is not the content of the traditions themselves but the environment in which they survive. Unlike many countries where folklore can be openly celebrated as heritage, supernatural belief in North Korea exists within a system that has historically treated religion and spirit practices with suspicion.[KCI]kci.go.krA Study of North Korean Folk Beliefs Presented in Joseon…by 김은정 · 2024 — This study's purpose is to investigate North Korean folk b…

This does not mean that every traditional practice vanished. Researchers have noted a recurring pattern in which official campaigns condemn fortune-telling and spirit beliefs while evidence simultaneously appears that ordinary people continue to seek supernatural explanations during periods of stress. Economic collapse during the 1990s appears to have strengthened this tendency, as uncertainty encouraged some people to turn towards divination and shamanic specialists despite the risks involved.[NK News - North Korea News]nknews.orgNK NewsNorth Korea NewsShamanism spreading in N.Korea since '90s famine: Defector1 Sept 2015 — Shamanism has been spreading in North Korea since…

Defector accounts describe shamans operating discreetly and clients seeking help with health problems, family concerns or predictions about the future. Such reports must be treated cautiously because they cannot always be independently verified, but they are broadly consistent with wider research on the resilience of folk religion under political pressure.[BPR]bpr.orgShamanism Endures In Both Koreas — But In The North…8 May 2021 — Just as North Korean defectors begin new lives in the South, becom…Published: May 2021

The result is a form of cultural survival rather than public revival. Folk belief continues not because it is officially encouraged but because questions about luck, illness, death and family obligation remain important in everyday life. Where official ideology provides political answers, older traditions often continue to provide emotional or spiritual ones.[KCI]kci.go.krA Study of North Korean Folk Beliefs Presented in Joseon…by 김은정 · 2024 — This study's purpose is to investigate North Korean folk b…

Why These Traditions Matter

Shamanic spirits and private supernatural beliefs offer a rare glimpse into parts of North Korean culture that are difficult to see through official narratives alone. They reveal continuity with the broader Korean past, including ideas about ancestors, wandering souls, household protection and journeys to the afterlife. They also show that folklore is often remarkably adaptable. Stories such as Princess Bari survived centuries of political and religious change, while quieter beliefs about ghosts, fortune and spirits continued to circulate even under a state committed to eliminating them.[wikipedia.org]WikipediaKorean mythologyKorean mythology

For readers interested in North Korean folklore, these traditions highlight an important distinction. The country’s most visible myths today may be tied to political ideology and national symbolism, but beneath them lie older layers of belief shared with the rest of Korea. Those layers are harder to document, yet they remain one of the clearest signs that traditional folklore can persist long after the social world that created it has changed.[KCI]kci.go.krA Study of North Korean Folk Beliefs Presented in Joseon…by 김은정 · 2024 — This study's purpose is to investigate North Korean folk b…

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Endnotes

1. Source: bpr.org
Link:https://www.bpr.org/2021-05-08/shamanism-endures-in-both-koreas-but-in-the-north-shamans-risk-arrest-or-worse

Published: May 2021

2. Source: nknews.org
Title: NK News
Link:https://www.nknews.org/2015/09/shamanism-spreading-in-n-korea-since-90s-famine-defector/

3. Source: Wikipedia
Title: Korean mythology
Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_mythology

4. Source: aks.ac.kr
Link:https://www.aks.ac.kr/cefia/webzine/2207/focus_eng.html

5. Source: princess.com
Link:https://www.princess.com/en-uk

6. Source: princess.com
Link:https://www.princess.com/my-princess/login/

7. Source: Wikipedia
Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess

8. Source: korea.net
Link:https://www.korea.net/NewsFocus/Culture/view?articleId=140971

9. Source: kci.go.kr
Link:https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/landing/article.kci?arti_id=ART003054578

10. Source: scientificresearchjournal.com
Title: Scientific Research Journal Korean Shamanism
Link:https://scientificresearchjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Social-Science-10_A-113-119.pdf

Published: May 8, 2024

Additional References

11. Source: koccult.com
Link:https://koccult.com/myths/bari-gongju

12. Source: researchgate.net
Link:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229698433_Korean_Shamans_and_the_Spirits_of_Capitalism

13. Source: princess-hotels.com
Link:https://www.princess-hotels.com/en/?idtokenprovider=500255%2F

14. Source: royal.uk
Link:https://www.royal.uk/the-princess-royal

15. Source: koreanstudiesaa.wordpress.com
Title: Conference of The Korean Studies Association of Australasia
Link:https://koreanstudiesaa.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/ksaa02-2001.pdf

16. Source: rcs.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl
Title: 2020 2021 RCG, Kingma, K. Master thesis
Link:https://rcs.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/624/1/2020-2021-RCG%2C%20Kingma%2C%20K.%20Master%20thesis.pdf

17. Source: instagram.com
Link:https://www.instagram.com/princesscruises/?hl=en-gb

18. Source: jstor.org
Link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/44368939

19. Source: youtube.com
Title: Inside North Korea’s Religious Cult of Personality
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsYApU60oH4

20. Source: laseoulite.substack.com
Link:https://laseoulite.substack.com/p/the-tale-of-princess-bari-and-the