North Korean Policy Elites - Defense Technical Information Center

If we want to reach into North Korea, different messages must be crafted for different divisions
in the society.
This paper has discussed, roughly: a general elite - particularly the younger members; IT
professionals; small entrepreneurs; small exporters; diplomats - above-board and not; state
capitalists; and Bureau 39 thugs. Each division’s sources of information may be different, and
sources may be general or specific. (Bear in mind, of course, that even general sources of
information in North Korea are very restricted.)
L. MEANS OF COMMUNICATION
Rumors may be the most general source of information in North Korea. However, for us
who are considering how to reach into that society, rumors are a secondary medium. The root
information would have to come from radio or a foreign press article, although an occasional
traveler or business person might offer grist for the rumor mill.
North Koreans have very limited access to foreign television - the country is too
totalitarian yet to imagine banned but ubiquitous satellite dishes as one reportedly now sees in
Iran. Consequently, radio remains the single best general source of outside information.
The foreign, particularly South Korean, press may also have some impact, although the
government applies a double filter to it. The government controls what will be translated and
circulated, and it severely restricts the number of officials with access to this once-filtered
information. Still, it is reasonable to assume that a combination of foreign press and rumor mill
affords the Pyongyang elite some second or third hand exposure to the foreign media.
The Kwangmyong intranet also is a source of general information, but it is a closed
system run by the North Korean government and any communication through it would be
carefully monitored. As a closed system, outsiders have no access to it. However, plans have
been discussed to link it with the Internet. 73 In that case, Internet experts might want to study
whether it is accessible from outside North Korea. Some North Koreans also have limited access
to the Internet and reportedly the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications is making some kind
of E Mail available to businesses. With some creative thought, the Internet, E Mail, and maybe
the intranet also can become media for active communication with specific individuals or for
passive content designed to appeal to certain individuals or small groups.
73 Song Sung-sop, “Developments in North Korea’s IT Sector, and North-South Exchanges and Cooperation
Following Joint Declaration of June 15, 2000,” Seoul Pukhan, p. 8, December 1, 2001, FBIS translation
KPP20011210000045.
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