This study analyzes North Korean mass dance as a case of ‘North Korean-style appropriation’ of western social dance. The society of North Korea does not admit the connection to the western social dance, empha sizing that mass dance is ‘a new tradition’ based on the anti-Japanese revolutionary dance which was enjoyed by guerrilla fighters in the period of Japanese occupation. North Korean mass dance is interpreted as ac cepting the legacy of national dance in that it uses traditional dance movements as bodily movements and traditional folk songs as music that follows the dance.