Underground News from North Korea
February 1, 2010
By: Paul Larson

Six networks of North Korean defectors have developed clandestine operations to smuggle news out of the strictly controlled state, reports the New York Times.  News from the state remains difficult to acquire because state authorities control the only media outlet, the Korean Central News Agency, and blocks Internet, jams foreign radio broadcasts and monitors international calls.  The secretive state has been listed by the international monitoring group Freedom House as one of the most repressive regimes in the world. 

Mun Seong-hwi runs one of the small news groups called the Daily NK.  Mr. Mun identifies defectors that still have friends in North Korea.  Those friends are recruited to become informants.  In one method to smuggle news across the border, informants are given a specific time to call the news agency.  The informants then prepare a safe location where cell phone use will not be monitored or blocked. 

The informants who smuggle out the news do not know that they are providing information to the Daily NK.  Mr. Mun does not know the real name of the informants and even his name is an alias.  These security measures are in place to protect Mr. Mun’s family still in North Korea and to prevent repeats of past tragedies.  Last May, an informant was caught trying to smuggle a video tape across the border.  She was caught and is believed to have committed suicide during her detention. 

Accuracy of the reports is often questioned, though some activists claim it has improved over the past year.  Mr. Ha of Open Radio for North Korea admitted, “Because our sources have never been trained in journalism, exaggeration is a problem for us… We try to cross-check our reports as much as possible.”  Exaggeration may be driven by monetary incentive.  Informants generally receive approximately $150 USD every two to three months, but are paid more for big stories.

Some stories are accurate, however, and provide valuable information about current conditions in the state, according to the New York Times.  Major news outlets in South Korea often quote these small operations.

Sources:

New York Times - Nimble Agencies Sneak News Out of North Korea

www.ccd21.org