Why South Koreans should have access to Pyongyang's media

North Koreans read a copy of the Rodong Sinmun, North Korea's official newspaper, at Mirae Scientists Street in Pyongyang, in this Jan. 11, 2021, file photo. South Korea is stepping up its efforts to lift its ban on North Korean media amid concerns over the potential influence of its propaganda. AFP-Yonhap

Worries about nonsensical ― even risible ― regime messages overblown, experts say

By Jung Min-ho

After the 1950-53 Korean War, ideological conflicts within and outside South Korea intensified. Many South Korean citizens were raising questions about the promises of capitalism; some gravitated to the communist utopian vision promoted by the North. Back when South Korea was poorer than the North economically, the regime's propaganda was a major threat to its very survival, prompting its leaders to enact the National Security Act to counter those messages.

Seven decades have passed since. South Korea today is incomparably more prosperous and influential than its totalitarian rival. Yet the act is still firmly in place, imposing a de facto ban on free public access to North Korean media. Those interested in reading North Korean newspapers such as the Rodong Sinmun need to visit government-designated places where they can access North Korea's mostly outdated "news" after showing their ID.

Experts say the ban is obsolete and only benefits the regime, which shuns ― and fears ― any type of transparency. They call for change, saying that worries about the potential influence of North Korea's propaganda here are overblown.

"After Germany was divided during the Cold War between the capitalist bloc led by the U.S. and the communist one by the Soviet Union, West Germany kept its door open to the media of East Germany. But West Germans showed little interest in reading Neues Deutschland, then the East side's official party newspaper, which is comparable to the Rodong Sinmun," Kim Young-soo, secretary-general at the Seoul office of the Hanns Seidel Foundation, a German political body that has promoted Korea's peaceful unification, told The Korea Times.

"If the South lifts its ban on North Korean media, the same thing will happen. After a while, few people will show interest."

In recent months, the South's Ministry of Unification has been stepping up its efforts to expand public access to North Korean media, including broadcasting channels, with the goal of ultimately removing the ban completely. Doing so was one of President Yoon Suk Yeol's pledges during his election campaign. But some have raised concerns that North Korea might exploit the opportunity to spread its lies. Their objections have slowed the progress of the project, officials said.

North Korean journalists film the motorcade of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ahead of a Washington-Pyongyang summit in Singapore, in this June 12, 2018, file photo. AP-Yonhap

Kim believes North Korean propaganda will have little impact on informed citizens in South Korea, just like East Germany's media did on West Germans.

It is North Korean propagandists, not South Korean citizens, who should be afraid of increased openness, he added, explaining that maybe if there were viewers and readers in South Korea, it may lead the North Korean media to self-censor its most outrageous claims for fear of drawing ridicule.

The media ban is not free. Scholars and other experts on North Korea ― and taxpayers who sponsor their work ― bear its cost. Many pay "excessive fees" to overseas-based providers to access North Korean media content, which is available for free or at much lower prices outside South Korea.

Yee Ji-sun, a researcher who studies North Korea's culture and society at the Korea Institute for National Unification, a think tank, pays subscription fees for one such service.

"During the COVID pandemic, the official supply channels for magazines such as Chollima have been blocked, which disrupted my work," she said. "Some internet firms offer paid-for services for what I need. But the one that I use offers only text content without the pictures published in the original magazines … If certain materials are essential, I have no choice but to ask scholars in other countries for them, which are digitally available in where they are."

This screenshot captured from the North's official Korean Central Television shows magazines with pictures of North Korean fashion models. Yonhap

It is ironic, she noted, that South Korean scholars are usually the last in the world to know what is happening in North Korea, which makes it difficult for them to assess the situation promptly. This is also bad for the public which relies on their assessments to understand North Korea.

As a person who has watched many North Korean films and TV dramas among other media content, Yee said she is confident that no sensible South Koreans would fantasize about life in the North today.

Nevertheless, she believes the process of lifting the ban should be gradual, especially on the web.

"My biggest worry is that North Korea, one of the world's cyberwarfare powerhouses, may use its websites or other online channels to compromise users' computers," she said. "Also, North Korea's media has a language issue, with many swear words and vulgar expressions it often uses. We should think about whether it is appropriate to open it to, say, people of all ages. We might need to consider making education programs for media literacy before and after lifting the ban."