In the past, there were only three methods for North Koreans to receive outside information. There was first the radio, second from leaflets, and third from diplomats were the only sources available in the past. But with technology and more advanced methods, North Koreans are getting more access to information. For example they have a strong preference for South Korean dramas and movies from the US. They get video clips from South Korea or from the US.
The missionaries in North Korea are distributing massive amounts of Bibles and mp3’s filled with Christian related files, including sermons. Nowadays the North Korean elite even the military army officers are demanding South Korean to send new television drama series that are popular in South Korea. For example, there is a television drama called Iris that they watch. North Koreans want to obtain these videos and once they enter into North Korea they are shared very rapidly.
The North Korean authorities are trying very hard to stop the distribution of these dramas and have taken extreme stances such as publicly executing those caught with these television dramas. But overall they cannot stop the control of information. For example, about ten or fifteen years ago, whenever the North Korean people wanted to bring out news from North Korea, there would be North Koreans who would illegally cross the river into China who would travel back and forth.
If they wanted to write some news they would write it inside their own jackets or suits with a magic marker so they would write to their relative or uncles using this method. Although the border guards at the North Korean border would try to detect this, it was impossible for them to flip every single piece of cloth, which made it a reliable method. Nowadays since memory chips are small, they are easy to hide everywhere. These sometimes contain clips of severe beating and public executions that are taken by using hidden cameras and then are exported out of North Korea. So there is some improvement to the way that the information is flowing.
When I was serving in the army I would remember that every morning when I would wake up that the ground was filled with leaflets from South Korea. In those leaflets I learned about how many cars South Korea produced every year, what the GDP was, and there was a particular image stuck in my head of the Yeouido Square [A famous park in Seoul].
I remember there was a big crowd of people wearing all sorts of colorful clothing who were demonstrating. At that moment I realized, “Wow! South Koreans wear a lot of different clothes.”This image remained with me for a long time. After that I would seek information on the radio and it was from the radio broadcastings that I learned that South Korea was not an impoverished or starving country. And lastly that they do not kill people who defect from North Korea.
Kim Seong Min was born in 1962. He grew up and received his education in Pyongyang, North Korea. Kim is the son of a poet and was trained as a writer. After serving ten years in the military, he worked in one of the regime’s propaganda offices. Troubled by the society in which he lived, Kim escaped to China in 1997. He eventually arrived in Seoul, South Korea in 1999, and ever since has fought for the liberation and democratization of his homeland.
In 2004, Kim established Free North Korea Radio (FNKR) to broadcast messages about freedom to those being oppressed and exploited by the regime in Pyongyang. These tireless efforts have been recognized by several international awards, including the “Prize for Press Freedom” from Reporters Without Borders and the “Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award” from the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. Recently, Kim was elected as a Representative of the Coalition to Promote the Democratization of North Korea, an alliance of North Korean defector organizations based in South Korea.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/freedomnk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/radiofreenk
Website: http://www.fnkradio.com
North Korea (the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) is a country of 23 million people in northeast Asia, ruled by Communist dictator Kim Jong-Un. His deceased predecessors—father, Kim Jong-Il, and grandfather, Kim Il-Sung – respectively retain the titles of “Eternal President” and “The Great Leader.”
The Korean War began in 1950, when Kim Il-Sung, backed by the Soviet Union and China, attacked South Korea. The conflict ended in a cease-fire rather than a peace treaty, and the border between the two Koreas remains tense and heavily militarized.
Kim Il-Sung employed harsh tactics to consolidate his power and propagated an extreme personality cult that has been continued by his successors. A blend of communist doctrine, state terror, xenophobia and hyper-nationalism has given North Korea its unique ideology. Despite some recent openings, North Korea remains largely isolated from the rest of the world.
With the end of Soviet communism and withdrawal of economic support, North Korea’s economy collapsed in the 1990s. A massive famine, aggravated by the regime’s indifference, killed as many as 2 million people between 1994 and 1998. While conditions have improved, even today, North Korea faces problems of malnutrition and insufficient access to food.
Tensions between North and South Korea remain high. In 2010, North Korea sank a South Korean naval vessel, killing 46 sailors and attacked a South Korean island, killing four civilians. North Korea has developed and tested nuclear weapons in contravention of several international agreements. The country withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003 in order to test ballistic missiles and eventually a nuclear device. Multilateral negotiations have so far failed to constrain North Korea’s arms buildup and nuclear program.
North Korea is among the world’s most repressive states, engaging in widespread and systematic human rights violations, including extrajudicial executions, torture, forced abortion, arbitrary detention, and denial of the rights of expression, association, assembly, and religion. The government pervasively regulates all aspects of the lives of its citizens, each of whom is categorized as “core,” “wavering,” or “hostile,” according to the history of his or her family’s relationship with the regime. Access to housing, employment, education, and other social and economic goods depend heavily on these security classifications. The government determines where each citizen will live, and travel within the country is strictly limited.
Emigration is prohibited. Refugees who have escaped to China have frequently been forcibly returned to North Korea where they are imprisoned, subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, and sometimes executed. The government operates a network of forced labor camps for an estimated 120,000 political prisoners. While persons convicted of ordinary crimes serve fixed sentences, those convicted of political crimes are confined indefinitely. Punishment is extended to three generations – the offender’s parents, siblings, and children are also incarcerated, as a way to pressure North Koreans to conform. Political offenders are often denied food, clothing, and medical care, and many die in prison.
Freedom House’s Freedom in the World report classifies North Korea as “not free” and as one of nine nations whose lack of political rights and civil liberties are considered the “worst of the worst.”
See all North Korea videos