DW talks to Lee Sang Yong, the editor-in-chief of Daily NK, a South Korean online newspaper that sheds light on how state-run media in North Korea shape their version of the truth.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/KCNA
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No escape from North Korea
North Korea is regarded as the largest prison on Earth. Latest developments in the country indicate that the regime is more nervous about letting its people and the truth find a way out than ever before.
Image: Tourism DPRK
No best friends forever
Although China and North Korea have maintained close diplomatic relations in the past, the relationship has declined in recent years. Unprecedented border controls on the south of the Jilin Province in China reflect the atmosphere: Apart from passports, travelers must hand in all their devices and luggage for an exhaustive, lengthy inspection.
Image: Daily NK
Bridge over troubled water
Despite all the restrictions, a viable connection to China is vital for North Korea. A new bridge over the Yalu river, which divides the two countries, is supposed to replace the derelict Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge that covers 70 percent of all bilateral trade. Construction on the North Korean side has stopped due to lack of finance in spite of Chinese private investments.
Image: Daily NK
Sitting on the fence
North Hamgyong Province, which borders with Russia and China, was hit by massive flooding last year that damaged or washed away barbed wire fences that prevent North Koreans from defecting or smuggling goods. It did not take long for the local administration to start building new fences and deploying guards to the border areas who are under orders to shoot any possible defectors on site.
Image: Daily NK
Home, sweet home
The number of North Korean defectors has been decreasing for several years in a row, but it is still a sensitive subject for the regime. The photo above shows a South Korean television celebrity Lim Ji Hyun (Jeon Hye Song by her real name) who returned to North Korea under suspicious circumstances and made a public statement in July on the local propaganda TV channel about the "hell in the South."
Image: Uriminzokkiri TV
Catch me if you can
Many North Korean defectors return to their country after their families are detained or blackmailed. Following a recent report, the regime has dispatched agents to border regions in China to locate and kidnap defectors. The abduction teams stay in the Jiangbin International Hotel and Life's Business Hotel in Dandong, the release stated.
Image: Wikipedia Commons
An amusement park gone wrong
Even though it is impossible for its inhabitants to leave North Korea, the country invites foreign tourists to discover the many attractions of the country. The official North Korean travel agency even launched its international website in August, offering trips to various parts of North Korea and even theme tours focused on architecture, biking, sports or - as cynically as it sounds - labor.
Image: Tourism DPRK
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DW: How does journalism manifest itself in North Korea? How do people realize they are living in a deception?
Lee Sang Yong: The truth exists even in dictatorial regimes, and North Korea is not an exception. We usually recruit people through a number of activities in China. When North Koreans visit the country, they suddenly find out that the reality there is very different from what they've been told by the official North Korean channels. Obviously, it makes people angry, and they begin to realize the [extent of] abuse of human rights and question the system in their homeland.
How is the real news shared in North Korea?
Intellectuals get to know the news first - sometimes from listening to the radio broadcast to the country, at times from talking to the executives who travel abroad. Those intellectuals create an environment where the news flows, and, eventually, a piece of it leaks to the public.
You could say that journalism in North Korea is the information that people spread mouth-to-mouth. The state-run media only strictly follow the propaganda, and the North Korean population is very perceptive to the verbally distributed news.
People living in North Korea as well as defectors are among your sources. What consequences would they face were they revealed by the regime?
The punishment would be so severe it is hard for me to even find words. They would most probably end up executed for undermining the regime, and up to three generations of their family would be dragged off to a prison camp. Such things happen, but the stories never reach the North Korean population because the regime is very reluctant to make them public. Actions against such individuals are always carried out quietly. People must not know that there are those courageous enough to expose the government and its lies.
Daily NK's editor-in-chief Lee Sang Yong speaks at the Round Panel Series in SeoulImage: Daily NK
What is the state of the North Korean propaganda machinery today?
Its aim is to look as real as possible. Back in the day, the media used to obscure the origin of the presented news, but now they strive to have all the information backed up. The media has also started to use a lot of extraterritorial information so the people get the impression that they have access to it. Several demonstrations that took place in South Korea were even depicted relatively truthfully by the North Korean channels.
Such an approach has unwanted effects, however: The coverage of the case of [former South Korean President] Park Geun-hye's impeachment was handled in a way to depict Park as a bad leader being punished by the people, while [North Korea's leader] Kim Jong Un was rendered as the good one. But it is a misjudgment to think that North Koreans are so foolish they will submit to the idea that Kim Jong Un is the best leader out there.
Do North Korean high-ranking officers believe the propaganda?
They do not, but they must show loyalty on the outside.
Information is a valuable commodity in North Korea, but the volume of information and the number of people who tend to evaluate objectively what is happening in the country is getting bigger. Many North Koreans are aware of the fact that nuclear weapons are not being developed as a means of self-defense and that "US imperialism" is not responsible for the increasing poverty in the country. I always emphasize that the right of the North Koreans to know is an urgent matter.
What factors will play a key role in the future of journalism and propaganda in North Korea?
I think we should pay attention to the "post-marketplace generation." The "Jangmadang generation" or the marketplace generation knows the importance of the market grounds that emerged as an alternative to the nation-wide distribution of goods, a system that collapsed in the 1990s and resulted in a period of famine in North Korea. Born after the mass starvation period, the post-marketplace generation does not believe the state propaganda immediately and often has no feelings for the regime at all. They do their business via the markets, they tend to be individualistic and have IT skills, which open the path to freedom.
No escape from North Korea
North Korea is regarded as the largest prison on Earth. Latest developments in the country indicate that the regime is more nervous about letting its people and the truth find a way out than ever before.
Image: Tourism DPRK
No best friends forever
Although China and North Korea have maintained close diplomatic relations in the past, the relationship has declined in recent years. Unprecedented border controls on the south of the Jilin Province in China reflect the atmosphere: Apart from passports, travelers must hand in all their devices and luggage for an exhaustive, lengthy inspection.
Image: Daily NK
Bridge over troubled water
Despite all the restrictions, a viable connection to China is vital for North Korea. A new bridge over the Yalu river, which divides the two countries, is supposed to replace the derelict Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge that covers 70 percent of all bilateral trade. Construction on the North Korean side has stopped due to lack of finance in spite of Chinese private investments.
Image: Daily NK
Sitting on the fence
North Hamgyong Province, which borders with Russia and China, was hit by massive flooding last year that damaged or washed away barbed wire fences that prevent North Koreans from defecting or smuggling goods. It did not take long for the local administration to start building new fences and deploying guards to the border areas who are under orders to shoot any possible defectors on site.
Image: Daily NK
Home, sweet home
The number of North Korean defectors has been decreasing for several years in a row, but it is still a sensitive subject for the regime. The photo above shows a South Korean television celebrity Lim Ji Hyun (Jeon Hye Song by her real name) who returned to North Korea under suspicious circumstances and made a public statement in July on the local propaganda TV channel about the "hell in the South."
Image: Uriminzokkiri TV
Catch me if you can
Many North Korean defectors return to their country after their families are detained or blackmailed. Following a recent report, the regime has dispatched agents to border regions in China to locate and kidnap defectors. The abduction teams stay in the Jiangbin International Hotel and Life's Business Hotel in Dandong, the release stated.
Image: Wikipedia Commons
An amusement park gone wrong
Even though it is impossible for its inhabitants to leave North Korea, the country invites foreign tourists to discover the many attractions of the country. The official North Korean travel agency even launched its international website in August, offering trips to various parts of North Korea and even theme tours focused on architecture, biking, sports or - as cynically as it sounds - labor.
