North Korean Policy Elites - Defense Technical Information Center

the details of their material life through various channels, and they are craftily maneuvering to
realize [the bribe campaign] in various conspiratorial ways.” 89
In these and similar news items, the North Korean audience was reminded of the wisdom
and foresightedness of Kim Jong-il in establishing his “no compromise” military-first policy to
aggressively resist U.S. psychological and physical military operations. “We never regret that we
walked on the military-first path without properly feeding or dressing ourselves in such a
difficult time of the arduous march and the forced march, but we consider it the greatest pride.” 90
“If one should give ear to the U.S. imperialists’ deceitful and hypocritical propaganda, he will
end up with a shaken faith and walking a path of betrayal against his people.” 91 “[We] must
never accept their coercive demands for weapons inspections or disarmament, and instead, must
strongly act in response to them. . . . One step of concession to the imperialists will result in tens,
hundreds, and thousands of steps of concessions.” 92
The Kim regime’s concern over foreign news sources entering North Korea is nothing
new. The Iraq (and Afghanistan and Kosovo) cases only sharpened fears that the United States
would come after the North Koreans, first with propaganda and then with weapons. According to
the North Korean press, psyops information can reach the people by flyers dropped from
airplanes (mentioning F-16s and B-52s), shells shot from cannons (155mm howitzers), radio
broadcasts from terrestrial stations and from airplanes (EC-130E), booklets “using the same
paper and fonts as produced locally in target countries,” 93 photographs, newspapers, magazines,
novels, movies, music, and so forth.
Perhaps the most feared psyops source, to judge by the critical attention it receives in the
North Korean press, is Radio Free Asia. North Koreans who pay attention to the domestic media
know about RFA, even if they have never listened to it. They have been informed that RFA
began Korean broadcasts in March 1997, that Radio “Free” broadcasts are made in Europe and
Africa and the Middle East, and that thanks to Radio Free Europe (RFE) “large numbers of
people, such as the youth . . . were imbued with illusions about capitalism” in the former Soviet
Union and Eastern Europe, thereby resulting in the collapse of communism and a worse life for
everyone. In the North Korean case, the United States is accused of “attempting to disintegrate
89 Cho Taek-pom, “Vicious Bribe Campaign.” Nodong Sinmun, September 19, 2003, p. 6. FBIS
KPP20031002000080.
90 KCBS, March 29, 2003. FBIS KPP20030329000036. Similar to KCBS on April 7, 2003. FBIS
KPP20030407000045.
91 Yi Kyong-su, “Psychological Warfare”
92 KCBS, April 7, 2003. FBIS KPP20030407000045.
93 Cho Song-chol, “Let Us Raise Awareness Against U.S. Imperialists’ Psychological Scheming Warfare.” Nodong
Sinmun, July 17, 2003, p. 6. FBIS KPP20030801000061.
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