Printed Media

What about newspapers and magazines? Well the regime report that there are literally hundreds of different titles available throughout the country, that is technically true. But the UN report that everything that’s printed for the masses is minutely planned.

All publication, broadcasting and magazine publishing entities formulate their articles based on a monthly plan. For example, if the government were to order that more grass eating animals are to be reared, all media content down to the regional levels would relate to this topic.

Also, mistakes in printed media are not looked on kindly at all. Mr Jang Hae-sung provided testimony at the Seoul Public Hearing of the Commission saying that he made a typographical error and misspelled Kim Il-sung’s name in a report. He was sent to a training camp for six months as punishment for this transgression. Harsh doesn’t even start to cut it.

Maybe they could get information about the wider world from foreigners visiting? Nope. Any foreign nationals that do get in are chaperoned around the country, and any attempt to slip away can end up with their visa being revoked. That would make you an illegal immigrant in the DPRK which is not a situation you want to be in. On top of that, official permission is also required for ordinary citizens to even meet foreigners.

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