North Korea Kyle Corbin

North Korea, an aggressively secretive and fiercely proud country was formally and

officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, which is currently home to over

25 million people. A mountainous nation, sharing borders with China, South Korea and Russia,

North Korea has remained highly territorial, traditional and arguably premodern. As a nation,

North Korea has long been run by a dynastic dictatorship, which developed after World War II

when the surrender of Japan lead to the separation of Korea between the United States occupying

the South, and the Soviet Union occupying the North. Reminiscent of Stalin's rule post-World

War, North Korea has exemplified a totalitarian dictatorship throughout decades, unbothered by

the independance, freedom and modernism of the twenty-first century (North Korea, 2017).

Through careful research and analysis we have found that North Korea, while one of the

world’s poorest nations, with nearly the lowest per capita income rates and GDP, the government

focuses highly on allocating resources to restrictions and regulations on communication. Mass

media outlets, usage of social media, public relations campaigns and any form of communication

within and outside of the country is either under control of harsh totalitarian means or strictly

forbidden (Fang, 2016). In our research, we focus on uncovering the workings of the current

North Korean government administration and legislation, culture and their influence on mass

communication inside of the country.

To understand the absolute authority that coexists with North Korean government today

is to delve into the country’s past. According to history.com, North Korea has been ruled by one

of the world’s longest-existing dynastic dictatorships, which developed soon after the Korean

War in 1953 (2017). The Kim family, established by Kim Il Sung, has successfully ruled with
absolute power and strong political legitimacy for three generations. As Kim Il Sung’s power

grew over time, he took on the role of great teacher, dispensing wisdom on any and all North

Korean subjects. This reputation eventually evolved into an attitude of divinity and excellence

that was pushed onto North Koreans by propagandists. More recently, Kim Jong-un, North

Korea’s current supreme leader, has continued this divine attitude, repeating the mentality that he

too is a supernatural-like leader. Unlike Kim Il Sung however, Kim Jong-un has focused more of

the nation’s efforts on reorganizing military and party structures to bring a larger emphasis on

nuclear power instead of relying on the patronage system between elites and military leaders.

Still, Kim Jong-un has ultimately and swiftly consolidated power under his strict regime similar

to his father, Kim Jong-Il, and his grandfather, Kim Il Sung.

Within this dynastic regime, much of the chief policy making is delegated from Workers’

Party of Korea’s Central Committee and three subordinate institutions: the Political Bureau, or

Politburo; the Control Commission; and the Executive Policy Bureau, which appoints top

officials within parties, the military and the cabinet as well as overseeing the country’s

surveillance programs. As far as political parties are concerned, The Propaganda and Agitation

Department and the Central Committee’s Organization Guidance Department are among the

most influential. These committees and departments share numerous responsibilities including

issues ranging from nuclear development, agriculture, trade, science, nationwide surveillance and

many more (Savada, 1993).

Although North Korea does not disclose information about their economy, the South

Korean Central Bank estimates and distributes economic information about it’s Korean

counterpart. According to Bajpai (2019), North Korean Gross Domestic Product and per capita

income has severely shrunk as the years have progressed. This is reportedly in part to their recent
and unexpected drought bites in addition to their isolationist sanctions. These sanctions that were

recently added and strengthened have had a significantly negative impact on North Korea’s

economy as droughts hurt much of the farming industry, which includes wheat, barley and rice.

This causes sporadic famine across low income and ordinary North Korean middle class

workers. Adequate farming infrastructure, fertilizers and techniques are hard to come by. In 1990

a nationwide famine killed nearly one million. Secondly, toughened international sanctions have

decreased exports, like coal and minerals, exponentially, which has been recorded as one of the

worst losses since the Korean Central Bank started publishing their data.

In addition to the focus on nuclear power and surveillance programs, North Korean

leaders have enacted a national isolation policy, which has furthered repression and intimidation.

Under this policy, international calls are blocked for North Koreans using the country’s domestic

mobile phone service, Koryolink, which has more than 3 million subscribers. This policy

typically excludes North Korean officials that rank highly within the federal government (Reddy,

2019). Not only are many North Korean citizens not authorized to leave the country itself, but

are also banned from contacting loved ones who live elsewhere or have fled abroad. According

to Fang (2016), those who choose to take this chance risk being sent away to detention facilities

or political prison camps. Suffering from continued violation of their constitutional right to freely

express themselves and seek and receive ideas, North Koreans severely lack the opportunity to

connect and communicate to the outside world. Even the radios and televisions come pre tuned

to government stations. This closed society structure has left North Korean citizens woefully

deprived of the opportunity to advance politically and socially in nearly every aspect.

According to Time Travel Turtle, trying to find out what life is like in North Korea is a

bit like trying to find out if the light turns off when you close the fridge door. This claim is a true
testament to our time spent researching this elusive country. Most of the culture in North Korea

is structured around it’s government regulations. It is common for ordinary North Koreans to

work in manual labor jobs as their economic center is focused around manufacturing, mining,

forestry, agriculture and fishing. Like these ordinary, back-breaking labor jobs, North Korea is

plagued with extreme restrictions. Military checkpoints are stationed on main roads, making it

difficult for citizens to travel within the country, let alone across the border. Through these

borders, it is common to smuggle movies and other forms of outside entertainment that are not

regularly produced in North Korea (The People’s Challenges, n.d.).

On the opposite end of the spectrum, however, the capital city of North Korea,

Pyongyang, is visibly better than life in the countryside. Many of the residents there hold some

sort of elitist title, political position or military leadership. Here, it isn’t unusual to see more

citizens with mobile phones, simply because wealth is more common. Unlike many international

capital cities though, Pyongyang is unusually quiet. Restaurants, shops and bars hardly line the

streets, instead the scenery includes a skyline litterted with grey concrete apartment buildings

(North Korea, 2017). However, although these cultural tendencies are all true in their own right,

many foreigners tend to believe that North Koreans lead a life full of watered-down uniformity

and nothing more. This assumption is untrue. Like every society, North Korea is still largely

human, in which people still love, smile, drink, dance and sing. Unfortunately, these human

beings, through no fault of their own have fallen on extremely hard times.

Media within North Korea is similar to it’s border regulations; entirely regulated and

monitored to the fullest extent. There is hardly any external media that is allowed access within

North Korea with the exceptions of a couple small bureaus. These bureaus include international

news agency, Associated Press, who opened their bureau in 2012 and Agence France Presse,
who opened their bureau in 2016 (Daniszewski, 2012). Otherwise, the Korean Central News

Agency is the only permitted source of official North Korean news along with two military and

politically targeted newspapers, named Joson Inmingun and Rodong Sinmun. Much of the news

distributed from the KCNA and these national newspapers is in the form of propaganda, which

promotes the North Korean dictatorship, the national military and the Kim dynasty (“N. Korea

world’s 2nd most censored country,” 2019). Bureaus looking to penetrate North Korean media,

like the Associated Press and Agence France Presse, must first establish partnerships with the

KCNA, connect with political and military elites of North Korea or utilize social media.

In addition to other forms of media like radio, television and newspapers, social media is

heavily littered with pro-government propaganda. The Kim administration watches social media

closely, even blocking Twitter and other popular sites that refute North Korean agendas. The

World Press Freedom Index, which is compiled by Reporters Without Borders with the purpose

of evaluating the state of journalism, shows that North Korea ranks 179th out of 180 countries in

terms of hostility towards journalists. Since Kim Jong-un came to power, his totalitarian regime

has left his country in a state of utter ignorance, instilling fear within North Korean citizens.

Citizens caught listening, watching or reading media from outside the country can still be

sentenced to a concentration camp (“North Korea,” 2019).

Although this is true, not all media is banned. Domestically, most social media is well

circulated through wealthy Pyongyang elites. A July 2017 report by intelligence firm, Recorded

Future, found that Facebook was the North Korean elite's most-accessed platform. Related to

Facebook, officials are frequently visiting sites such as LinkedIn, and Chinese services such as

video platform Youku and a Twitter-like app, Sina Weibo. More recently, a Tweet from Donald

Trump in June of 2019 sparked international conversations which eventually led to his visit with
Kim at the inter-Korean border. Because of the reach of social media, Trump became the first

sitting United States president to enter North Korean territory and shake hands with current

dictator, Kim Jong-un (Reddy, 2019).

As a poor country, rampant with social class divides, poor infrastructure, paranoid

citizens and a conniving administration, ample resources are being allocated now more than ever

to the silencing of media. With the rise and dominance of public relations all over the globe,

isolationist countries like North Korea are fighting to protect its long-running totalitarian

authority over millions of ignorant citizens. With the main goal of enhancing political power and

suppressing news media outlets, Kim Jong-un and his administration continue to succeed in

keeping North Korea in a shadow of information insecurity. Although elite members of

Pyongyang are acutely aware of their domestic and foreign issues, they are resistant to change.

However, one thing is for sure, no individual or nation can exist forever by completely ignoring

the realm of reality.

References

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works.asp

Daniszewski, J. (2012). AP opens full news bureau in North Korea. Retrieved from

https://www.ap.org/ap-in-the-news/2012/ap-opens-full-news-bureau-in-north-korea
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history

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https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20190911004300325

Reddy, S. (2019). Analysis: How does North Korea use social media? Retrieved from

https://monitoring.bbc.co.uk/product/c200xiwn

Savada, A. (1993). North Korea: A country study. Retrieved from

http://countrystudies.us/north-korea/

The People’s Challenges. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.libertyinnorthkorea.org/learn-nk-challenges/