North Korea’s Propaganda Machine

by lisa ~ April 13, 2009

North Korea’s failed attempt to launch a satellite into orbit last week barely made the news in the U.S.  Perhaps because Americans have not been troubled by it since the end of the war in 1953, we tend to view North Korea differently than unstable states such as Sudan and Somalia. Instead, we joke about Dear Leader Kim Jong-il, who wears women’s eyeglasses and sports a bouffant hairdo.

But the country’s development of what was probably not a communications satellite should be worrisome - and not only to South Korea and Japan. Imagine being trapped inside the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), as it is officially known. A lengthy article in the Washington Post describes the challenges faced by defectors to the south, who are so paranoid they are afraid of being kidnapped from a darkened movie theater.

Although its public announcements seem ridiculous to outsiders, DPRK’s Korean Central News Agency IS the media for its citizens. When living in an information vacuum, it must be entirely reasonable for people to believe that “DPRK successfully launched satellite Kwangmyongsong-2, fully demonstrating the might of science and technology as a leading satellite launcher before the whole world.”

In fact, the news agency seeks to strengthen its position by quoting two groups it identifies as the “British Association for the Study of Songun Policy and the British Group for the Study of the Juche Idea.” These organizations supposedly issued a joint statement congratulating North Korea on the successful launch, saying the country “has the inviolable right to develop space for peaceful purposes” and its “successful launch of satellite serves as a great event heralding a prelude to the emergence of a great prosperous and powerful socialist nation.”

Yes, it is amateurish, not to mention ridiculous. But for a populace that is not as media savvy as those in countries with a credible fourth estate, it is believable. Reporters Without Frontiers, in its 2008 report on the state of the media within the country, said this: “The totalitarian regime in North Korea keeps its people in a state of ignorance through tight control of the media… Kim Jong-il is in direct control of the North Korean press, including Rodong Shinmun (The Workers’ Newspaper), the Korean Central News Agency, and national television JoongAng Bang Song.”

Reporters Without Frontiers goes on to say that only about a dozen foreign media outlets, primarily Chinese, are on the ground there. Reporters who are given hard-to-obtain-visas to visit North Korea are monitored by official guides. However, some news comes from journalists who have fled to South Korea or Japan.

For a thorough assessment of the threat posed by North Korea, read this Q&A with Sheila A. Smith, Senior Fellow for Japan Studies with the Council on Foreign Relations:

To read the complete Washington Post article, “N. Korean Defectors Bewildered By the South,” click here.

Lisa Tibbitts is a New York-based corporate communications professional with an MBA in marketing. Follow her on Twitter: http://twitter.com/FinancialPR.