This can be translated in to English in a variety of ways: ‘Shining Fatherland’, ‘Bright Fatherland’, or ‘Brilliant Fatherland’ (the last of which is the English title of a song with the same Korean name — performed here by the Moranbong Band).

But what about ‘Arirang’?

Many people simply call every Mass Games performance ‘Arirang’. But, as most of our faithful readers will know by now, Arirang is actually the name of a specific Mass Games performance, which started in 2002 and ran (intermittently) until 2013, and also happens to have been the biggest and most famous of these kinds of performances.

There have been many other incarnations of Mass Games over the decades, and the new title we're able to announce today indicates that September's events will be a different kind of performance to those last held under the 'Mass Games' banner.

Would you like to be in the DPRK (North Korea) when the 'Bright Fatherland' Mass Games happen? Well then you've come to the right place! Here at Koryo Tours we are offering a range of trips this September that we expect will include the Mass Games. Update: this 2018's Mass Games have been confirmed to run from September 9 to September 30.

For those of you who want to travel to North Korea specifically to see the Mass Games we have put on two special 'Mass Games Weekend Tours' — running from September 15 to 18, and September 22 to 25.

However, we expect all of our DPRK tours from Sep 9 (National Day — a military parade is expected) to be able to attend the new Mass Games! You can find the full list of tours that are likely to see the Bright Fatherland Mass Games here.