TOW 6: North Korean Propaganda

The painter of this piece is unknown, but it is a propaganda poster issued from North Korea.

This gruesome painting depicts a North Korean man getting painfully tortured. This picture shows the cruel American soldiers torturing a man, most likely an innocent man. This man looks to be about middle aged. A middle aged man is more effective for this painting because it hints at a possible wife and children he has back home that he must take care of and watch after, which makes the viewers feel even more sympathetic for him. His shirt is covered in blood and his head is getting sawed with a knife. He is tied down, and one American soldier is even cruelly laughing at this scene. There is blood all over the North Korean man, most likely to show the extreme, arduous torture he has been put through. They are in a dark, dingy room to portray the painful torture more explicitly.

This painting utilized a lot of pathos. This poor, innocent man getting tortured by cruel American soldiers really appeals to the viewers' emotions. It clearly gets across the message that American soldiers are evil, inhumanely torturing a helpless, North Korean man.

This painting was for the North Korean civilians.

The propaganda artist's purpose of painting this picture was definitely accomplished. After viewing this, North Korean civilians were probably strongly influenced and brainwashed to believe that American soldiers are cruel and evil.