---
title: 'Arirang Mass Games: card-section portrait of Kim Il Sung, Pyongyang (photographed 2007)'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/arirang-mass-games-kim-il-sung-card-portrait-2007/
description: A photograph from the stands of an Arirang mass-games performance in 2007 shows a vast card-stunt backdrop, formed by a block of children holding…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![Arirang Mass Games: card-section portrait of Kim Il Sung, Pyongyang (photographed 2007)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/arirang-mass-games-kim-il-sung-card-portrait-2007.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/arirang-mass-games-kim-il-sung-card-portrait-2007.jpg)

# Arirang Mass Games: card-section portrait of Kim Il Sung, Pyongyang (photographed 2007)

A photograph from the stands of an Arirang mass-games performance in 2007 shows a vast card-stunt backdrop, formed by a block of children holding coloured cards, picturing a portrait of Kim Il Sung. The tell is identity fusion: individual performers are dissolved into a single image of the founding leader, so participation itself becomes an act of devotion. Context: the event was a state-run spectacle in Pyongyang with a Korean-history narrative, staged in the Kim Jong Il period.

[← Arirang Mass Games: national flag formed by card-holding performers, Pyongyang (photographed 2007)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/arirang-mass-games-flag-card-display-2007/) ["People's Desire": roadside billboard, Myanmar (photographed 2008) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/myanmar-peoples-desire-roadside-billboard-2008/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Our job is to beat the Hun. Vote Union Government (Canada, 1917 election)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/our-job-is-to-beat-the-hun-union-government-1917/) (Canada · 1917 · Name-calling, Identity fusion). Content note: Ethnic slur ('Hun') for Germans in the slogan.
- [Julistus (Proclamation): Red Guard committee denies rumours and orders rumour-spreaders arrested](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/punakaarti-julistus-huhut-1918/) (Finland · 1918 · Identity fusion)
- [Salzburg 20-Kronen "Anschluss" voucher (1921)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/salzburg-anschluss-voucher-20-kronen-1921/) (Austria · 1921 · Identity fusion)
- [The Bombay Chronicle, article on a foreign-cloth bonfire (July 30, 1921)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bombay-chronicle-cloth-bonfire-1921/) (British India · Jul 30, 1921 · Identity fusion, Glittering generalities)
- [L'Unione Sarda, 24 March 1929: 'Il voto di oggi, è atto di fede' (plebiscite day front page)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/unione-sarda-plebiscito-front-page-1929/) (Fascist Italy · Mar 24, 1929 · Identity fusion, Glittering generalities)
- [Zwei SA-Männer bringen ein Hitler-Plakat an (Mecklenburg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sa-maenner-kleben-hitler-plakat-mecklenburg-1932/) (Weimar Republic · Jun 21, 1932 · Identity fusion). Content note: Photograph of SA men in uniform with swastika armband putting up a Hitler election poster, 1932.
- [Hitlerjugend, Deutsches Jungvolk: Altmetallsammlung](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hj-altmetallsammlung-jungvolk-1933/) (Nazi Germany · 1933 · Identity fusion). Content note: Deutsches Jungvolk boys in uniform collecting scrap metal, 1933.
- [Marine-HJ werben für den Bau von HJ-Heimen (Handwagen mit Plakat)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/marine-hj-werbung-hj-heime-1933/) (Nazi Germany · 1933 · Identity fusion). Content note: Hitler Youth members in uniform with swastika armbands and flags promoting the building of Hitler Youth homes.