The regime invests
tremendous resources into indoctrinating the North Korean people and making North Korea the most closed media environment in the world
. But that hasn’t stopped the people from consuming forbidden foreign media and outside information.
?
As the people started moving and trading within the country and across the border into China, the Jangmadang also became a place of exchange for new information and technologies. Increased access to this information is changing perceptions of the outside world and challenging the regime’s propaganda, ultimately eroding the North Korean people’s loyalty to the regime.
"Everything portrayed in the South Korean dramas was so clean and everyone seemed so wealthy. I used to think ‘Wow, there is such a world out there.’? We were taught that South Korea was a poor country but I wondered, why can’t we live like that?’."
? Jihyun Kang, escaped North Korea in 2010
How Foreign Media Changed One Woman’s Life
The North Korean regime severely cracks down
on foreign media consumption but the people continue to watch despite the risks. Through smuggled movies, television programs and even
music
, North Koreans are learning more about the reality of life in the outside world and the reasons for their own poverty, and they cannot unlearn these things. As this ‘education in reality’ continues, the North Korean people will be increasingly empowered to think independently from the regime. And when people think differently, they eventually act differently.
“I knew I’d be sentenced to hard labor if I watched foreign media, but I did it anyway. When I first saw the buildings, cars, and clothes on the screen I thought they were all set up just for the sake of the movie. That’s what they do on North Korean TV all the time: lie. But as I watched foreign movie after foreign movie, I thought to myself, ‘that can’t be fake. That’s got to be real.”
? Chae Hwan, escaped North Korea in 2017
How Foreign Media Changes Perceptions
Marketization is accelerating the spread of both foreign content and the devices to consume them on such as mobile phones, televisions, tablets, laptops, radios, and DVD players. Today in North Korea, it’s possible to buy cheap Chinese DVD players for around $20. USB drives have grown in popularity in recent years, and are used with computers and DVD players that have a USB input port. These drives are small enough to hide and can contain hours of content, making it easier to share and consume media without being as easily detected by the secret police.
4 North Koreans Talk About
The Spread of Foreign Media
81% of North Koreans who had left the country reported having access to a USBs.
98% of North Koreans who had a USB carried illegal media on it.
From the report '
Compromising Connectivity'
? these numbers do not necessarily reflect the entire country.
The famine and grassroots marketization also triggered an unprecedented number of North Koreans to begin illegally traveling back and forth to China. This includes smugglers, traders, and even North Korean refugees who are caught and sent back. These people have had direct exposure to the outside world and share this information with their home communities, countering the regime’s propaganda.
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Cross-border trade and smuggling has also exposed North Koreans to foreign products that are far superior to domestically produced ones. The knowledge that foreign countries are creating these goods is a tangible sign that the quality of life outside the country might be better.
?
83% of respondents
said they found outside goods and information to be of greater impact on their lives than decisions by the North Korean government.
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As the chasm between traditional propaganda and the people’s understanding of their reality continues to widen, and the bottom-up forces empowering the North Korean people continues to increase, the regime will be forced to:
?
1. Adapt its propaganda to align more with reality.
2. Allow a better standard of living in order to maintain power and control
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If they fail, their propaganda will become increasingly irrelevant, or even counter-productive.
Koreans who had a USB carried illegal media on it*