As we inch closer day by day to the date of the historic US/DPRK Summit in Singapore, more and more people will have their eyes trained on North Korea. Regardless of where you get your news, bias is something to take into account, but if you're looking for an inside view into what official North Korean state propaganda is like, you might want to go straight to the horse's mouth. For that purpose, we have put together this guide to navigating NoKo news and the DPRKweb in general.
<a href="https://kcnawatch.co/">Korean Central News Agency</a> is a great place to start to get a survey of what various North Korean news sources are reporting at the moment. The site hosts stories in Korean, English, Spanish and Japanese and even includes photos and videos, but stories are rotated out fairly quickly. KCNA, and most other North Korean news sources, only have news up for a few months at a time. Being as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is an authoritarian dictatorship, you may notice they're swift with the live edits. As a result, you may want to avail yourself of archiving sites like archive.is, archive.fo or the WayBack Machine.
If you're interested in watching videos from North Korean news, there are a handful of options here as well. The Red Star TV YouTube channel describes itself as "an information project of the DPRK Solidarity Group in which truthful information about North Korea is translated and disseminated, and KCTV streams are broadcasted."
<iframe width="854" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JoT8gNu9Q8Y" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Korean Central News Agency (KCNA Watch) is basically an aggregator of various state news sources also has options for watching livestreams of North Korean state media but a subscription to NK Pro is required in order to avail of the service. <a href="http://www.ustream.tv/embed/22683204?html5ui">Another possible option for streaming North Korean TV</a> is at Ustream, but when I tried the link the channel was off the air.
It's also possible to listen to radio out of Pyongyang, the North Korean capital city, but this stream is strictly in Korean. One thing you'll likely notice is that North Korean music seems heavily influenced by the 1980's. If you're interested in listening to English language propaganda from North Korea, you can tune in via shortwave radio or listen to edited clips online at The Voice of Korea site. <a href="http://www.vok.rep.kp">Voice of Korea</a> hosts clips of the Voice of Korea shortwave propaganda network. It is broadcast in Korean, German, Russian, Chinese, English, Spanish, French, Arabic and Japanese. This is another of the sites that I had trouble accessing. If you don't get through, try bookmarking the site and checking back intermittently.
<a href="http://www.rodong.rep.kp">Rodong Sinmun</a> is one of the top newspapers in North Korea. It is published in association with the Central Committee of the Worker's Party of Korea. Rodong will feature most of the same news as you might find at KCNA, but often Rodong Sinmun may feature more local items and additional photos.
Another important site for examining North Korean news and other information is <a href="http://naenara.com.kp/en/">Naenara</a>. Naenara is the portal to the North Korean internet (which is actually more of an intranet). Naenara not only covers news from various sources like The Pyongyang Times newspaper, Korea magazine, Korea Today magazine and Foreign Trade magazine but it is a general internet portal to the North Korean web. Naenara also leads you to KCNA news, but using the Naenara portal can make things a little slower.
North Korean web services are spotty at best and if you can get connected count on the possibility of that connection being laboriously slow. Naenara is available to view in Korean, English, French, Spanish, Russian, German, Chinese, Japanese and Arabic. The Naenara portal has multiple categories including politics, foreign trade, press, IT industries, history, one entitled "Korea is One," and even a category related to foreign tourism to the region. Naenara is also the browser for the North Korean "intranet." It is the standard bundled browser for the Red Star OS. Average North Koreans aren't able to escape North Korea's private "intranet"
<a href="http://www.uriminzokkiri.com">Uriminzokkiri</a> is another media venue sanctioned by the North Korean government. The site is actually based in Shenyang, China. Some of the available content is propaganda that attacks the US, South Korea and Japan. You can also follow Uriminzokkiri on social media. <a href="http://www.dprktoday.com/">DPRK Today</a> is North Korean news that includes photos and videos. The site is available in Korean, English, Russian and Chinese. DPRK Today has some news and information that is not found at the other sites we've mentioned and like Uriminzokkiri, it has social media accounts you can follow to keep updated and even a mobile site.
<a href="http://www.pyongyangtimes.com.kp">The Pyongyang Times</a> is the only North Korean newspaper in the English language. Pyongyang Times is found on most Air Koryo flights into NoKo. The website itself is fairly new as it was launched September of last year. Before Pyongyang Times made its way to the internet the stories were only hosted at the Naenara website/portal.
You can also (try) to stream North Korean tv using VLC. Just choose “Open Network” in the File menu and then copy-paste the URL: http://112.170.78.145:50000/chosun .
<a href="http://www.gnu.rep.kp">Grand National Unity</a> is the Pyongyang Broadcasting Station's Korean language radio station which is aimed at a South Korean, Japanese and Chinese audience. <a href="http://mediaryugyong.com.kp/">Ryugyong Programming Center</a> contains photos and videos of recent events in North Korea. <a href="http://chosonsinbo.com/">Choson Sinbo</a> isn't technically North Korean state news, it is technically published in Japan by the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan but deals with information and news from North Korea and material of interest to the Korean community in Japan.
Then there's <a href="http://www.minjok.com/">Minjok Tongshin</a> has an English language edition, but much of the English edition contains material from Western sources. <a href="http://www.dprkmedia.com">DPRK Media</a> is another repository from Japan that collects North Korean media sources. The site is Korean only, but has some of the largest database of official North Korean news sources. There's also <a href="www.northkoreatimes.com/">North Korea Times</a> which is listed as "The Oldest News Site in North Korea" but much of the news you will find here is international. You can also, however, find local news from NoKo, business-related news and even weather.
Twitter: #northkorea
