North Korean Policy Elites - Defense Technical Information Center
North Korean Policy Elites - Defense Technical Information Center
North Korean Policy Elites - Defense Technical Information Center
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For the rest of the <strong>North</strong> <strong>Korean</strong> leadership, there are some dedicated channels of<br />
information, but the amount of foreign news is limited compared to what is generated through<br />
Kim Chong-il’s apparatus. The primary source of information for high-ranking <strong>North</strong> <strong>Korean</strong><br />
officials (vice director and above) comes through access to specially produced newspapers and<br />
magazines covering domestic and world news. These publications are treated as classified<br />
material, but are used to inform officials responsible for developing policy initiatives.<br />
The major source of information for the <strong>North</strong> <strong>Korean</strong> leadership on issues relating to<br />
world affairs comes from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Monitoring stations are set up in<br />
selected capitals (Washington, Tokyo, Beijing, and Moscow) to track foreign news broadcasts.<br />
This information is then relayed to the appropriate country desks within the Ministry of Foreign<br />
Affairs for processing and analysis. Foreign newspapers are used to provide context to the<br />
analysis, but the lack of timeliness marginalizes their use. 67 The dissemination of this analysis is<br />
strictly limited. The Situation and Data Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which<br />
monitors foreign radio and television broadcasts, creates a daily report which is disseminated at<br />
the director level throughout the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and presumably to other critical<br />
party and government offices.<br />
Members of the Politburo, Secretariat, and National <strong>Defense</strong> Commission have access to<br />
daily coded cables from <strong>North</strong> <strong>Korean</strong> embassies, usually compiled by the ambassador’s office<br />
and vetted by the State Security Department. 68 These reports include information based on local<br />
newspapers and other publications, supplemented with some analysis by embassy officers.<br />
Because of the source of the information, these reports are treated as classified. However, unlike<br />
in the Soviet Union and China, the ability of the senior <strong>North</strong> <strong>Korean</strong> leaders to draw upon<br />
experts beyond their staffs to help them understand this material is limited. Formal ties between<br />
leadership institutions, such as the Politburo, and research organizations (something that became<br />
popular in the Soviet Union in the 1950s) do not exist. 69<br />
Another source for world news is the Chosun Central News Agency. Its Department of<br />
Reference News collates and disseminates 18 kinds of materials, including Reference News, and<br />
Reference Paper, based on a constant monitoring of the international news through newspapers<br />
and broadcastings. 70 The Reference News contains daily reviews of the foreign press divided by<br />
67 In the past, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not been given access to the Internet out of fear that its use to<br />
provide depth to data collected on international issues might provide a venue for foreign ideas. Recently, however,<br />
<strong>North</strong> Korea has begun to experiment with limited Internet access within the ministry. Discussion with <strong>North</strong><br />
<strong>Korean</strong> analysts at the <strong>Korean</strong> Institute for National Unification, November 2003.<br />
68 Discussion with Kim Kwang-in, December 2003.<br />
69 Discussion with a former staff officer in the KWP Central Committee, May 2001.<br />
70 Kim, Kwang-in, “Reference News: A Periscope to South Korea,” Chosun Ilbo (May 1, 2001).<br />
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