by Ralph Hassig
73. Sin Chu-hyon, “Latest North Korea Information—Rationing Suspended throughout North Korea Except in Pyongyang,” Wolgan Chosun (May–June 2006): 362–65, in Korean.
74. Mike Bratzke, “Last Tango in Pyongyang,” Wolgan Chosun (November 1, 2004): 254–73, in Korean.
75. UNICEF, Water, Environment and Sanitation, UNICEF website, DPRK page, www.unicef.org/dprk/reallives_224.html (accessed on December 26, 2006).
76. Central Bureau of Statistics, Institute of Child Nutrition, DPRK, “DPRK 2004 Nutrition Assessment: Report of Survey Results,” page 12 of a pdf report retrieved from the Nautilus Institute website in February 2005.
77. “Kim Jong-il Sends Wild Honey to Pyongyang Maternity Hospital,” KCNA, July 22, 2004, in English.
78. “Dying Children in North Korea’s Hospitals,” JoongAng Ilbo, February 21, 2001, Internet version, in English.
79. “Produce and Supply Mass Medicines on Their Own,” Nodong Sinmun, July 17, 2001, 4, in Korean.
80. “Int’l Red Cross to Scale Down Medical Supply Distribution in North Korea,” Yonhap, December 18, 2006, in English.
81. Dr. Vollertsen has written extensively on North Korea. This quotation is from “Life under the Red Star,” JoongAng Ilbo, April 30, 2001, Internet version, in English.
82. Bratzke, “Last Tango in Pyongyang.”
83. Haggard and Noland, Hunger and Human Rights, 87–88.
84. “Int’l Red Cross to Scale Down Medical Supply Distribution in North Korea.”
85. “Medical Report Shows Most N. Koreans Vulnerable to Epidemics: Lawmaker,” Yonhap, September 6, 2006, in English.
86. Park Hyun Min, “Critical Gap of Average Life Expectancy between the Two Koreas,” Daily NK website, September 8, 2006, in English. Also see Namgung Min, “South Korea’s Average Life Span 78 Years, North Korea’s 64: A 14-Year Difference,” Daily NK website, October 23, 2007, in English.
87. “Pyongyang Condo Prices Quadruple,” Dong-A Ilbo,February3,2006, Internet version, in English.
88. “DPRK Profiled: Five Years after ‘Economic Reform’—Collapse of Government Control, Division of Society into Classes, Increase in Black Market Traders in DPRK,” Mainichi Shimbun, Nikkei Telecom 21 database version, July 3, 2007, morning edition, in Japanese.
89. “Let Us Thoroughly Eliminate Private Accommodation Facilities and Give No Room for Enemies’ Maneuvering,” State Security Department Internal Document, published by Chosun Ilbo, October 7, 2005, Internet version, in Korean.
90. Interview with a former North Korean who defected in 1996, Seoul, November 1997.
91. The phenomenon of North Koreans learning to become consumers is discussed in Yi Ki-chun and Na chong-yon “A Study of North Korean Household Economy and Consumer Behaviors.”
92. Ryu Kyong-won, “Merchants Spreading Delusions about the Enemy Using South Korean Goods? What Does the 2007 Market Control Mean?” Rimjingang, March 17, 2008, 82–96, in Korean.
93. An Yong-hyon, “DPRK Markets That Even Kim Jong-il Cannot Hold in Check,” chosun.com, January 13, 2009.
Chapter 5: The Information Environment
1. A readable overview of communications theory approaches is Dominic A. Infante, Andrew S. Rancer, and Deanna F. Womack, Building Communication Theory (Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, 2003). Another good source is Stephen W. Littlejohn, Theories of Human Communication (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2002).
2. A German visitor quotes Kim Il-sung as using this term in regard to the opening of the Najin-Sonbong foreign trade zone. The term occasionally appears in the North Korean press. For Kim’s original quote, see Hy-Sang Lee, North Korea: A Strange Socialist Fortress (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2001), 178.
3. Yu Chae-chon, “The Nature and Function of the North Korean Media,” in Pukhanui Ollon [Media in North Korea] (Seoul: Uryumunhwa, 1990), 45–84, in Korean.
4. Quotation from Kim Pyong-ho, vice director general of KCNA, in an interview with No Kil-nam, editor of Minjok Tongsin (of Los Angeles), September 8, 2003, in Korean.
5. “Step Up Propaganda by the Press and Publications Dynamically to Spur the Building of a Powerful State,” Nodong Sinmun via KCNA, February 12, 2004, editorial, in Korean.
6. KCBS, October 21, 2005, in Korean.
7. “Phoenixes Who Overcame Difficulties with Faith,” Nodong Sinmun, December 2, 2006, 4, in Korean.
8. Yonhap News Agency, North Korea Handbook (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2003), 410, in English.
9. The KCNA website at www.kcna.co.jp is run by North Korean loyalists in Japan.
10. Kim Mi-yong, “DPRK Party Mouthpiece Nodong Sinmun Introduced,” Chosun Ilbo, February 27, 2002, Internet version, in English.
11. Nodong Sinmun via KCNA, December 18, 2003, in Korean.
12. “One More North Korean ‘Surprise,’ ” Korea Herald, October 7, 1997, Internet version, in English.
13. “Relay Party’s Ideology and Intention to the Masses in a More Timely, Faster Way,” Nodong Sinmun, October 6, 2003, 3, in Korean.
14. “Relay Party’s Ideology and Intention to the Masses in a More Timely, Faster Way.” According to the article, one model functionary, “after he read, first thing in the morning, the editorial that urged a great upsurge in building a powerful state with the pride of having splendidly celebrated the 55th anniversary of the Republic’s founding . . . carried out political work by going out to many cooperative farms bustling with corn harvests and letting them know the tasks suggested in the official party newspaper’s editorial.”
15. KCBS, December 18, 2003, in Korean. KCTV, December 18, 2003, in Korean. KCNA, December 18, 2003, from its website at www.kcna.co.jp, in English.
16. Paek Hyang and Choe Chin-i, “People Are Sick of the No. 3 Broadcast, and the Town Chief Is Frustrated,” Rimjingang, November 20, 2007, 154–58, in Korean.
17. Song Mi-ran, “Computer ‘Mail,’ ” Nodong Sinmun, July 19, 2001, 4, in Korean.
18. Yi Un-yong, “North Korea’s Formidable Hacking Capabilities Revealed by a North Korean Hacking Godfather-Escapee,” Sindong-a, November 1, 2005, 162–73, in Korean.
19. Philippe Grangereau, Au pays du grand mensonge: Voyage en Coree du Nord (Paris: Payot, 2003), 185–87.
20. Bernd Girrbach, “The Diplomacy of Images: Notes of a Film Trip (2002),” in Nord-korea: Einblicke in ein ratselhaftes Land [North Korea: Glimpses of a Mysterious Land], ed. Christoph Moeskes (Berlin: Christoph Links Verlag, 2004), 101–8.
21. “Kim Jong-il Authors 1,400-Odd Works during University Days,” KCNA, March 18, 2004, in English.
22. “New Books off the Press,” KCNA, October 22, 2003, in English.
23. “New Novels off the Press,” KCNA, November 3, 2003, in English.
24. “New Novels off the Press.”
25. The collectivist nature of film production and consumption in North Korea has been noted by Dr. Suk-Young Kim in her lecture “Illusive Utopia: Fifty Years of North Korean Film” (presented at the U.S. Korea Institute at SAIS, Washington, D.C., April 30, 2007).
26. Ron Gluckman, “Behind the Scenes in North Korea,” personal website, www. gluckman.com/NKFilmTokion.html. Gluckman cites film statistics from North Korea and from a survey of North Korean defectors.
27. Johannes Schoenherr, “Permanent State of War: The North Korean Cinema,” Nordkorea: Einblicke in ein ratselhaftes Land, May 1, 2004, 92–100, in German.
28. Karl Malakunas, “It Ain’t Hollywood, but North Korean Cinema Only Has Room for One Star,” Things Asian website, April 3, 2005, www.thingsasian.com/goto_article/ article.3219.html.
29. Malakunas, “It Ain’t Hollywood.”
30. Kim Jong-il, On the Art of the Cinema, April 11, 1973, in English. Published in Pyongyang by the Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1989.
31. Schoenherr, “Permanent State of War.”
32. Yonhap, North Korea Handbook, 197.
33. Han Yong-chin, “DPRK’s Idolization Propaganda 40 Percent of National Budget,” Daily NK Internet site, January 10, 2007,
in English.
34. O Myong-chu, “Rock Writing,” Dong-A Ilbo, March 9, 2005, Internet version, in English.
35. “Full Text of the Study and Lecture Program ‘On Doing Away with Capitalism,” obtained by and published in South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo, December 20, 2002, Internet version, in Korean.
36. Rescue the North Korean People (RENK), “Information Has Been Flowing in Steadily from Outside: The Kim Regime’s Sense of Crisis over the Diversifying Values of the North Korean People Is Clearly Revealed,” Flash Report No. 9, RENK website, July 12, 2005, in Japanese.
37. “Let Us Live and Work According to Our Own Way,” KCBS, December 7, 2004, in Korean.
38. “Let Us Vigorously Wage the Struggle against Phenomena to Uproot the Acts of Smuggling,” instructions to North Hamgyong Province Committee, published in 2003 by the KWP, obtained by Rescue the North Korean People (RENK) and published on the group’s website, November 22, 2004, in English.
39. “Mass Education Material for the Anti-spy Struggle, Juche 93, Part 2,” originally published by the SSD in June 2004 under the title “Let Us Heighten Revolutionary Vigilance and Thoroughly Smash the Enemies’ Maneuvers Aimed at Rupturing the Building of a Powerful State”; later obtained and published by Chosun Ilbo, October 19, 2005, Internet version, in Korean.
40. “Explanation of Laws and Regulations: The Education Law,” Minju Choson,May 9, 2000, 2, in Korean.
41. Kodung Kyoyuk [Higher Education], Juche 95, no. 4 (August 6–October 6, 2006), in Korean.
42. Yi Pong-hyon, “Kim Il-sung University Gives Capitalism Lectures,” Hangyore Sinmun, January 17, 1996, 1, in Korean.
43. Yang Jung-A, “North Korean Education from 7 Years Old,” Daily NK website, August 29, 2006, in English.
44. Jeannette Goddar, “Attentive Care by the ‘Great Leader,’ ” Spiegel Online, November 21, 2007, in German.
45. Philo C. Wasburn, Broadcasting Propaganda: International Radio Broadcasting and the Construction of Political Reality (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1992), 30. Also see Alvin A. Snyder, Warriors of Disinformation: American Propaganda, Soviet Lies, and the Winning of the Cold War (New York: Arcade, 1995), 25, 166.
46. See RFA’s home and FAQ pages at www.rfa.org.
47. See the KBS website at www.kbs.co.kr. This policy may change with a change in ROK government administrations.
48. The origin of “gray” propaganda is disguised, but it does not claim to come from the target country, whereas “black” propaganda attempts to disguise its true origin by purporting to originate in the country toward which it is targeted. The Social Education Broadcasting station, operated by the ROK government’s KBS network, beams signals into North Korea and China twenty-four hours per day. Echo of Hope Broadcasting transmits for about twelve hours a day, according to the website ClandestineRadio at www. clandestineradio.com). The station claims to be sponsored by Koreans living abroad but is reportedly run by the National Intelligence Service. Voice of the People Broadcasting, transmitting twelve hours a day as well, advertises itself as a service of the Korean Workers’ Union but is said to be operated by the Ministry of National Defense.
49. See the Far East Broadcasting website at www.febc.org.
50. Kevin Kane, “Private Citizens Liberating North Korea with Shortwave Radio,” Daily NK website, March 4, 2007, in English. Also see Kim Song-a, “University Students Take the Lead in Broadcasting to North Korea,” Daily NK website, May 3, 2007, in English.
51. Francis Uenuma, “Sending Out Signals to Long-Isolated North Koreans,” Washington Post, December 30, 2007, A27.
52. Paek Sung-ku, “Kim Jong-il Orders to Confiscate Radios; A Conspiracy Is Underway to Abolish the KBS Social Educational Broadcasting to Keep Step with North Korea’s Suspension of Anti-North [sic] Propaganda Broadcasts,” Wolgan Chosun (September 1, 2003): 249–55, in Korean.
53. Kim Yong Hun, “24 Percent of North Korean Defectors Say They Experienced the Southern Media,” Daily NK website, December 16, 2005, in English.
54. Voice of National Salvation (VNS), July 31, 2003, in Korean.
55. Yi Chong-hun, “NSC, Was It Taken in by North Korea’s Psychological Warfare?” Chugan Tong-a, July 1, 2004, 322–33, in Korean.
56. “U.S. Imperialists’ Sly and Wicked Ideological and Cultural Infiltration Maneuvers,” KCBS, May 27, 2003, in Korean.
57. Cho Song-chol, “U.S. Imperialists’ Vicious Psychological Warfare via Radio ‘Free Asia.’ ” Nodong Sinmun, June 13, 2003, 6, in Korean.
58. Kim Song-a, “North Korea’s Demand to Cease Scattering of Flyers Provides Proof of Their Effectiveness,” Daily NK website, August 2, 2007, in English.
59. “Activists Urged to Stop Dropping Fliers on N. Korea,” Chosun Ilbo, September 1, 2006, Internet version, in English.
60. “Concern over DPRK Balloon ‘Terrorist Attack Experiments,’ ” Sankei Shimbun, January 10, 1997, 1, morning edition, in Japanese.
61. ROK Unification Ministry website; see “Exchanges and Cooperation” at www.uni korea.go.kr/eng/default.jsp?pgname AFFexchanges_economic.
62. Kim Ji-ho, “Nightmare Haunts Housewife Detained during Kumgang Tour—under Close Scrutiny for Mental Duress, Min Young-mi Says North Korea Used Her to Save Face,” Korea Herald, July 27, 1999, Internet version, in English.
63. Kang Chol-hwan, “North Korean Security Believes Yongchon Explosion an Assassination Attempt,” Chosun Ilbo, May 25, 2004, Internet version, in English.
64. Marcus Noland, Telecommunications in North Korea: Has Orascom Made the Connection? (paper sponsored by the Peterson Institute for International Economics and the East-West Center, September 8, 2008).
65. For example, see C. Hovland, O. J. Harvey, and M. Sherif, “Assimilation and Contrast Effects in Reaction to Communication and Attitude Change,” Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 55 (1957): 244–52.
66. Interview with a former North Korean who defected in 1996, Seoul, December 1997.
67. Cho Song-chol, “World Unfit for Humans—United States: Corrupt Society Filled with Trash and Deceit,” Nodong Sinmun, February 8, 2004, 6, in Korean.
68. Cho Song-chol, “World Unfit for Humans—United States: Unfair Society Where Money Is Everything,” Nodong Sinmun, February 13, 2004, 6, in Korean.
69. Cho, “World Unfit for Humans—United States: Unfair Society.”
70. Cho, “World Unfit for Humans—United States: Unfair Society.”
71. Paek Mun-kyu, “Fate of an Occupier Who Has Fallen into a Trap from Which There Is No Escape,” Nodong Sinmun, November 28, 2003, 6, in Korean.
72. Ri Sok-chol, “Anachronistic Ballad about ‘Placing Importance on Alliance’ Will Not Take Effect,” Nodong Sinmun, on July 2, 2005, in Korean; read on Pyongyang Broadcasting Station (Voice of Korea), July 2, 2005.
73. KCTV, January 9, 2004, in Korean.
Chapter 6: Hidden Thoughts
1. Choe Kum-nam, “The Four Firsts Are the Ideological and Spiritual Forces for the Construction of a Powerful State.” Minju Choson, November 18, 2003, 2, in Korean.
2. Chong-pyo Chung, “Our Fatherland Is an Ideological Power,” Nodong Sinmun, September 10, 1996, 3, in Korean.
3. Kim Il-sung, “On Eliminating Dogmatism and Formalism and Establishing Juche in Ideological Work,” speech to Party Propaganda and Agitation Workers, December 28, 1955, in Kim Il Sung Works (Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1982), 9:395–417; quote from 9:395–96, in English.
4. Chong Son-chol, “Being Strong-Willed with the Principle of Independence Is a Fundamental Requirement in Our Times’ Politics,” Nodong Sinmun, March 23, 2001, 2, in Korean.
5. Cho Song-chol, “Let Us Heighten Vigilance against U.S. Imperialists’ Psychological Smear Campaign: Cunning Stratagem Abusing Humanitarianism,” Nodong Sinmun, August 14, 2003, 6, in Korean.
6. Mark E. Manyin, “U.S. Assistance to North Korea: Fact Sheet,” CRS Report for Congress, Document RS21834, January 31, 2006, 2.
7. “On the Glorious Road to Building a Ju
che-Style Party,” KCBS, December 31, 2000, in Korean.
8. Kim Jong-il, “Historical Lesson in Building Socialism and the General Line of Our Party,” a talk given to senior officials of the Party Central Committee on January 3, 1992; published in Nodong Sinmun, February 4, 1992, in Korean, and carried on the same date by KCNA.
9. Kim Jong-il, “Our Socialism for the People Will Not Perish,” a talk given to senior officials of the Party Central Committee on May 5, 1991, published in Nodong Sinmun, May 27, 1991, in Korean, and republished in People’s Korea 1517 (June 8, 1991): 2–7; quote from 4, in English.
10. Song-kuk Choe, “Imperialists’ Wily Strategy of Disintegration,” Nodong Sinmun, May 3, 1998, 6, in Korean.
11. Kang Chol-hwan, “Serious Ideological Disturbance within the North; Original Copy of Ideological Indoctrination Material for North Korean People’s Army Cadres Obtained,” Chosun Ilbo, September 4, 2004, Internet version, in Korean. The title of this North Korean document is “On Resolutely Smashing the Strategic Psychological Warfare of the Enemy Who Aims to Cause Our Internal Collapse and Degeneration.”
12. Chang-man Hwang, “The Source of Our People’s Revolutionary Optimism,” Nodong Sinmun, June 1, 1997, 2, in Korean.
13. Kim Myong-hui, “The Revolutionary Spirit for Suicidal Explosion,” Nodong Sinmun, December 29, 1998, 3, in Korean.
14. Pak Nam-chin, “Immortal Course during Which the Military Assurance for the Consummation of the Juche Cause Has Been Provided,” Nodong Sinmun, June 26, 1997, 3, in Korean.
15. “Our Republic Is a Socialist Military Power,” KCBS, August 30, 2003, in Korean.
16. KCNA, January 8, 2004, in English.
17. Gen. Eugene E. Habiger, USAF, commander in chief, U.S. Strategic Command, to the Senate Armed Services Committee, March 21, 1996: “At U.S. Strategic Command, peace is still our profession, and the strength of our deterrent forces remains the backbone of that peace.” (www.defenselink.mil/speeches/1996/t19960321-habiger.html).
18. Pae Yong-il, “They Should Bow to Military-First Politics,” Tongil Sinbo, July 22, 2006, 4, in Korean.
