Media coverage of North Korea

Lack of reliable information

Media coverage is hampered by a lack of reliable information. The verification of facts is notoriously difficult. For example, researcher Christopher Green has described trying to confirm a story about Vice Marshal Ri Yong-ho being killed in a firefight in Pyongyang in 2012, but being unable to find a source there that knew about it. Even intelligence agencies struggle with the task. Former US ambassador to South Korea, National Security Adviser, and CIA officer Donald Gregg has described North Korea as the "longest-running intelligence failure in the history of US espionage". Former CIA director Robert Gates called it the "toughest intelligence target in the world".

Isaac Stone Fish of Foreign Policy has described the country as an "information black hole". According to Ralph Cossa, president of the Pacific Forum of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, "Anyone who tells you that they know anything for certain about North Korea is either trying to kid you or trying to kid themselves." Andrei Lankov has compared reporting North Korea to the parable of the blind men and an elephant, with analysts falsely extrapolating from limited data. Several authors have referred to a North Korean "rumor mill". South Korean journalists and media experts have described this as a "systemic problem".

Due to the popularity of North Korean news, however, stories are frequently widely circulated in the global media with minimal fact-checking or analysis.

Restrictions on reporting in North Korea

Media in North Korea are under some of the strictest government control in the world. The main local media outlet is the Korean Central News Agency.

North Korea has a high level of security and secrecy. Communication with the outside world is limited, and internal communication also seems limited at times. Reporters Without Borders describes North Korea as the world's most closed country, ranking it second last in the Press Freedom Index.

The North Korean government places stringent restrictions on foreign reporters, visitors, and even residents of foreign origin. Freedom of movement is severely curtailed, interactions with local people are supervised, and photography is heavily regulated. Because of this reporters often find it difficult to check stories and establish hard facts. Many analysts and journalists have never visited North Korea or have had very limited access. As a result, their books and articles may rely on speculation and scanty information gleaned from a single, uncorroborated source, such as a defector.

When foreign journalists do visit the country, they run into problems, because North Korean and foreign journalists have different understandings about the role of the media. North Koreans expect foreign journalists to behave like Soviet journalists during the Cold War, while Western journalists would like to exert the freedom of the press more widely. Researching topics like prison camps are out of bounds, and North Korean officials are often reluctant to give statements on the record. As with tourists, foreign journalists are always accompanied by minders, and any encounters with locals have been arranged. Foreign journalists have access to the Internet, making real-time reporting possible. Although control is strict, foreign journalists are only rarely expelled from the country. Photographer Eric Lafforgue was banned from returning after taking many candid photographs.

The Associated Press opened a video-only bureau in Pyongyang in 2006. In 2012, the bureau became the first Western all-format bureau in the country. The bureau does not have a full-time presence. Rather, the journalists can only stay for weeks at a time in the country before having to request permission anew. AP photographer David Guttenfelder has been visiting North Korea since 2000, and has experienced the easing of restrictions over time. In 2013 he reported being able to upload photographs onto Instagram without censorship.

Agence France-Presse opened a bureau in 2016. Under an agreement with the Korean Central News Agency, AFP will be able to send teams of journalists into the country. As part of the agreement, a North Korean photographer and a videographer will produce content under AFP supervision.

Defectors

Defectors from North Korea are a key source of first-hand information for intelligence officers, scholars, activists, and journalists. While their testimony is considered valuable, there is growing skepticism about the accuracy of their accounts. Often defectors are cited anonymously to protect their identities, which makes it difficult to verify their information.

Felix Abt, a Swiss businessman who lived in the DPRK, argues that defectors are inherently biased. He says that 70 percent of defectors in South Korea are unemployed, and selling sensationalist stories is a way for them to make a living. He also states that the overwhelming majority of defectors come from North Hamgyong Province, one of North Korea's poorest provinces, and often have a grudge against Pyongyang and provinces nearby. He states that defectors in South Korea's resettlement process tailor their accounts over time to become less mundane and more propagandistic. He criticizes journalists and academics for not being skeptical about even the most outlandish claims made by defectors. Similarly, academic Hyung Gu Lynn has commented that some defectors embellish or fabricate their stories to sell books or lobby for regime change. Representatives of the defector community in South Korea have also expressed concern about the unreliability of defector testimony.

The journalist Jiyoung Song has said that she has encountered numerous inconsistent stories when researching defectors over sixteen years. She noted that cash payments for interviews are standard, and have increased over the years. The more exclusive or emotional the story is, the higher the payment.

After extensively interviewing Shin Dong-hyuk, a prominent defector, the journalist Blaine Harden wrote in 2012 that, "There was, of course, no way to confirm what he was saying. Shin was the only available source of information about his early life." According to Harden, Shin confessed that his original story about his mother, told in interviews to South Korea's National Intelligence Service and others, and in his memoir, was not true: "Shin said he had been lying about his mother's escape. He invented the lie just before arriving in South Korea." In January 2015, Harden announced that Shin had admitted that the account of his life that he had given Harden was also false. Andrei Lankov commented that "some suspicions had been confirmed when Shin suddenly admitted what many had hitherto suspected", described Harden's book as unreliable, and noted that defectors faced considerable psychological pressure to embroider their stories.

Political bias

Since the Korean War (1950-1953), North and South Korea have confronted each other over the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with a permanent American garrison force situated in the south. Factual reporting can be a casualty of this cold war. Journalists and media experts in South Korea have concluded that political hostility distorts media coverage.

North Korean authorities have attributed erroneous reporting on the country to disinformation spread by South Korea and the United States. Specifically, the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, a DPRK-backed organisation, has accused the Chosun Ilbo, a major South Korean newspaper, of employing "hack journalists" who intentionally report false information at the behest of the South Korean government. The American journalist Barbara Demick has made a similar criticism.

Often the information release route is that the South Korean National Intelligence Service briefs South Korean politicians, who then brief the media, providing the possibility of misunderstanding especially to reporters eager for lurid stories. South Korean officials routinely brief the media anonymously, so there is no accountability if the information is later found to be incorrect. Moreover, the NIS has been accused of disseminating unverified information — such as the false report of the execution of General Ri Yong-gil — which supports the depiction of North Korea as a dangerous and unstable country. According to American historian Bruce Cumings, South Korean intelligence services have a long history of providing disinformation to foreign journalists.

The analyst Andrei Lankov argues that the mainstream media suppresses stories about relative improvements in North Korea to avoid giving support to its government, or being perceived to do so.

Sensationalism

In the absence of solid facts, many reports are based on sensationalist claims, distortions, and unsubstantiated rumors. While many of these stories emanate from South Korea, some of the most outlandish stories come from the Japanese media and Japanese scholars.

John Delury from Yonsei University argues that there is a demand for sensationalist news about North Korea: "There's a global appetite for any North Korea story and the more salacious the better. Some of it is probably true – but a great deal of it is probably not...the normal standards of journalism are thrown out of the window because the attitude is: 'it's North Korea – no one knows what's going on in there.'" Jean Lee, the former Associated Press Pyongyang bureau chief commented that "when it comes to North Korea, the more horrible, the more salacious, the more entertaining, the more it fits into the narrative as the North Koreans being these insane outliers", the more likely it is to be published. Author and retired British diplomat James Hoare wrote "The main emphasis in British [media] coverage of North Korea is on the odd and the peculiar."

The Washington Post's Max Fisher has written that, in regard to North Korea, "almost any story is treated as broadly credible, no matter how outlandish or thinly sourced." Fisher quoted Isaac Stone Fish of Foreign Policy joking that "as an American journalist you can write almost anything you want about North Korea and people will just accept it". Isaac Stone Fish himself admitted to painting a picture of North Korea in the grip of a drug epidemic with very little hard evidence to back it up.

The standards of fact-checking are so lax that journalists regularly report parodies as genuine stories. In June 2016, South Korea's financial markets were shaken by reports of the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, which originated from a parody news website.

According to Chad O'Carroll of NK News, these stories have a tendency to go "viral". They are very attractive to online news organizations because they lure traffic to their websites. They also spread rapidly. A hoax, a mistranslation, or a line of cautious commentary can escalate into a global media sensation.

Gianluca Spezza of NK News believes that the overused stereotypical labels applied to North Korea like "Hermit Kingdom", "secretive" and "unpredictable" make for "catchy headlines and are an easy sell." This, combined with limitations on reporting in the country, leads to many stories becoming little more than repetitions of clichés. According to American historian Bruce Cumings, the same kinds of stories have been circulating since North Korea was founded, with images of military parades, for example, being repeated endlessly. As a result, the media portrayal of North Korea has been described as a "cartoon caricature".

Some defectors have commented that the news from North Korea is sometimes ridiculously different from the country that they lived in. Several visitors have reported that the North Korea that they experienced was worlds way from the barren landscapes, starving people, and goose-stepping troops portrayed in the media.

Hyon Song-wol

Hyon Song-wol is a North Korean singer. On 29 August 2013, The Chosun Ilbo reported that she was executed by firing squad, together with eleven other performers, including members of the Unhasu Orchestra and Wangjaesan Light Music Band, on the orders of North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. The story was reported worldwide. It was claimed she was Kim Jong-un's ex-girlfriend, and that she and the others had made pornographic videos.

North Korea's KCNA denied claims that the singer was executed, and a Japanese news magazine reported that she was seen subsequently. On 16 May 2014, Hyon appeared on North Korean television participating in the National Convention of Artists, disproving the rumors.

Death of Kim Chol

Kim Chol was a Vice Minister of Defense who was allegedly purged and executed by a mortar round for "drinking and carousing" during the period of mourning for Kim Jong-il. The story, originally reported by the Chosun Ilbo, was picked up by the world's media. However, subsequent analysis by Foreign Policy determined the claims most likely originated from gossip, and NK News observed the story "demonstrates how a single anonymous source can generate a story in the South Korean press, which then gets escalated into all-caps certainties for fine news outlets such as the Daily Mail."

Death of Jang Sung-taek

Following the 2013 arrest of DPRK official Jang Sung-taek on charges of corruption, international media reported he had been eaten alive by a pack of ravenous dogs on the orders of Kim Jong-un. After the reports began to gain traction, Trevor Powell, a Chicago-based software engineer, discovered the story had originated from the blog of a Chinese satirist. In the wake of the revelation, some media retracted their original stories.

Discovery of unicorns

In 2012, a number of international media outlets reported that North Korea had claimed to have discovered evidence of unicorns. In reporting on the purported announcement, U.S. News and World Report somberly declared it to be "the latest in a series of myths trumpeted by North Korean news sources." Subsequent analysis of the original DPRK statement, however, showed that the announcement involved the archaeological discovery of the "unicorn lair," or kiringul, a poetic term for an archaeological site associated with the ancient capital of King Dongmyeong of Goguryeo, and that neither North Korean academics nor media had ever claimed the literal existence of unicorns.

Kim Jong-il's golf score

Over several years, many international news outlets have reported that North Korean media claimed that Kim Jong-il shot five holes in one his first time playing golf, or achieved some other improbable score. The implication of the story is that the North Korean government attributes supernatural feats to its leaders as part of a cult of personality. Despite the wide propagation of the story, no North Korea media source for the report has ever been produced. NK News reports that "informal surveys of North Koreans themselves revealed that no one in Pyongyang was aware of this legendary feat, unless told it by a tourist." Richard Seers, a British journalist who played at the Pyongyang Golf Club, asked officials there, who indicated it was nothing more than an urban myth. The Korea Times has traced the story to Australian journalist Eric Ellis, who heard the tall story from the club professional at Pyongyang Golf Club in 1994.

How Americans Live

In 2013, a short film titled How Americans Live was widely disseminated on the Internet. The film showed images, supposedly of the United States, with a stilted English narration making over-the-top claims about various depredations experienced in American society, such as people being forced to eat snow for sustenance. Spencer Ackerman of Wired called the film a "North Korean propaganda video" while the Washington Post, in its analysis, declared the video's message to be "consistent with North Korean propaganda". It was subsequently revealed the film was a satirical video created by British travel writer Alun Hill and not, as reported, a North Korean "propaganda video".

Mourning for Kim Jong-il

Following the death of Kim Jong-il, many media reported on scenes broadcast by North Korean press that showed North Korean citizens crying hysterically. Writing in the New Yorker Philip Gourevitch declared the grieving was obviously fake and indicative of the "madness of the Kims' grim dominion over North Korea," while Bill O'Reilly stated that mourners had been "paid in hamburgers." Writing on CNN, John Sifton of Human Rights Watch claimed North Koreans were required by the DPRK government to cry and their "only alternative is to flee." However, wild expressions of grief - including extreme sobbing and fist pounding - are an accepted part of Korean Confucian culture and can regularly be seen in South Korea as well. In fact, during the funeral procession for South Korean president Park Chung Hee, thousands of South Korean women were pictured "screaming, wailing and shaking their fists at heaven." Korea expert B.R. Myers has observed that sadness expressed by North Koreans on learning of the passing of Kim Jong-il was probably "genuine."

Distribution of Mein Kampf

In June 2013, Washington Post blogger Max Fisher reported claims by New Focus International, a website run by North Korean defectors, that Kim Jong-un had distributed copies of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf to other members of the North Korean government. This made the Post the first major media outlet to repeat those rumors, which had been spreading among North Korean defectors in China. In response, scholars Andrei Lankov and Fyodor Tertitskiy pointed out that the story was extremely unlikely: the Soviet influence on history textbooks in North Korea and the fact that Nazi Germany was allied with the Japanese Empire (which had colonized Korea) meant that North Koreans deplored Nazi Germany, and indeed the North Korean state media itself sometimes compared South Korean or American leaders to Hitler.

Lankov suggested that the eagerness with which media outlets accepted the story pointed to a "simplistic view of the world" in which "the bad guys are also united and share a bad, repressive ideology", while Tertitskiy condemned the rumors as distracting attention from serious news reporting and detracting from its credibility. Both Lankov and Tertitskiy described the rumor as an example of Godwin's law. Fisher himself would later criticize U.S. media outlets for their "high degree of gullibility" in reporting on North Korea.

Legal marijuana

In the 2010s, a number of media reports, many re-cycling the same few sources available, stated that cannabis was widely used as a drug in North Korea, and legal there. However, a reply by journalist Keegan Hamilton in a 2014 article in The Guardian sought to debunk these as rumors. He cited Matthew Reichel of the Pyongyang Project who notes that ipdambae is actually an mixture of herbs and tobacco, superficially resembling cannabis but unrelated. Cannabis is cultivated industrially, but in the form of low-THC hemp, and while some people may cultivate personal amounts of psychoactive cannabis, its use is not condoned, though it is also unlikely to be punished severely.