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DVDs are the new medium to enlighten North Korea
by Andy Sennitt.
Anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns have gone digital, with activists flying out balloons carrying DVDs across the inter-Korean border to show North Koreans what they may be missing. Lee Min-bok, a defector from the North who leads a group that started the leaflet campaign using balloons, said his group began sending propaganda DVDs along with paper leaflets this year. “We have flown off about 400 DVDs from Baekryeong and Ganghwa islands in the West Sea and Cheolwon since February,” Lee said.
Like the leaflets, the DVDs describe North Korean leader Kim Jong-il as a dictator indulging in western luxuries or show North Koreans that their government may not be telling them the truth. The North Korea Reform Radio, a shortwave radio broadcaster run by defectors from the North, produced a DVD featuring the inter-Korean naval clash that occurred in the West Sea last November. Mr Lee produced a DVD on Kim Jong-il’s luxurious life.
Contrary to what many might think, DVD players are common household items in the impoverished North. “According to people who have recently fled the North, about 70 to 80 percent of households in cities have DVD players now and many have computers with DVD drives,” said Kim Seung-chul, chief of the radio broadcaster. “They say that even the military has a DVD player for each platoon.”
Compared to the leaflets the size of a newspaper at the most, 4.7 Gb DVDs are a major innovation in terms of the amount of information they can carry, the activists said. “I hear the DVDs we send are making waves in the North,” said Mr Lee. “Once they see the images, it’s hard not to believe (the content of the DVDs).”
The fact that a DVD can be copied over and over among North Koreans also makes it an attractive medium of propaganda, he said. To prevent damage, the DVDs are carefully packaged in bubble wraps with paper wings attached to increase air resistance when falling from the sky. “We tested by dropping them from high-rise buildings and they weren’t damaged,” Mr Kim said. “We plan to produce more DVDs with different themes and send 1,000 of each to the North.”
by Andy Sennitt.
Anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns have gone digital, with activists flying out balloons carrying DVDs across the inter-Korean border to show North Koreans what they may be missing. Lee Min-bok, a defector from the North who leads a group that started the leaflet campaign using balloons, said his group began sending propaganda DVDs along with paper leaflets this year. “We have flown off about 400 DVDs from Baekryeong and Ganghwa islands in the West Sea and Cheolwon since February,” Lee said.
Like the leaflets, the DVDs describe North Korean leader Kim Jong-il as a dictator indulging in western luxuries or show North Koreans that their government may not be telling them the truth. The North Korea Reform Radio, a shortwave radio broadcaster run by defectors from the North, produced a DVD featuring the inter-Korean naval clash that occurred in the West Sea last November. Mr Lee produced a DVD on Kim Jong-il’s luxurious life.
Contrary to what many might think, DVD players are common household items in the impoverished North. “According to people who have recently fled the North, about 70 to 80 percent of households in cities have DVD players now and many have computers with DVD drives,” said Kim Seung-chul, chief of the radio broadcaster. “They say that even the military has a DVD player for each platoon.”
Compared to the leaflets the size of a newspaper at the most, 4.7 Gb DVDs are a major innovation in terms of the amount of information they can carry, the activists said. “I hear the DVDs we send are making waves in the North,” said Mr Lee. “Once they see the images, it’s hard not to believe (the content of the DVDs).”
The fact that a DVD can be copied over and over among North Koreans also makes it an attractive medium of propaganda, he said. To prevent damage, the DVDs are carefully packaged in bubble wraps with paper wings attached to increase air resistance when falling from the sky. “We tested by dropping them from high-rise buildings and they weren’t damaged,” Mr Kim said. “We plan to produce more DVDs with different themes and send 1,000 of each to the North.”