RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – When the state controls the media, what viewers get out of each story depends heavily on whether they live in the country or not. There is no better example of this than North Korea. Earlier this month, North Korea celebrated the 70th anniversary of the ruling Korean…
Tag: state-run media
NORTH KOREA: Business as Usual in the Hermit Kingdom
RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – In early September, as if the international community needed to be reminded about the alleged capabilities of the North Korean armed forces, the country said that it was prepared to carry out a nuclear attack against (big shocker) the United States and “other hostile forces” for…
NORTH KOREA: Tensions Flare Over Annual Military Exercise (Again)
RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – Every summer, North Korea makes it known that they vehemently oppose the annual military exercises held by South Korea and the United States. This time, however, tensions may run slightly higher than they usually do during this time of the year. Last Monday, the armed forces…
NORTH KOREA: Pesticide Plant or Weapons Warehouse?
RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – Last month, a “biological weapons expert” known only as Lee allegedly defected from his native North Korea to Finland. Yonhap News states that he “held a data storage device with 15 gigabytes of information on human experiments” which may prove the existence of North Korea’s alleged…
NORTH KOREA: Kumdang-2 Cures Everything That Ails Ya
RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – Is impotence keeping you down? Tired of having bad skin? Suffering from cancer, Ebola, AIDS, MERS, or almost any other scary, life-threatening disease? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions and are able to visit North Korea, you may want to ask your physician…
NORTH KOREA: Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
RYAN LIPPERT WRITES- Only in North Korea would a national leader claim to have climbed the highest mountain in the country, take a picture (in which he looks neither tired nor properly equipped to accomplish such a task), and then describe such an accomplishment as if he just had a…
NORTH KOREA: 99 Red Balloons?
RYAN LIPPERT WRITES- In the midst of heightened tensions due to annual military drills between the U.S. and South Korea, the North Korean government has announced that they will not hesitate to respond to certain future transgressions by the South with overwhelming force. What are these transgressions, you ask? Dropping…
NORTH KOREA: The Amazing Disappearing Dictator!
RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – Watch out, David Copperfield, you’ve got a new competitor! Earlier this month, North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un finally reappeared after mysteriously disappearing in early September. Although there was speculation about the reasons for his disappearance, we can all agree on one thing: the North Korean…
NORTH KOREA: Human Rights Capital of the World?
RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – Certainly a country with the title “The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” is all about freedom and equality…right? Earlier this year, the United Nations published a report on the state of human rights in North Korea. It found that the country has one of the worst human…
NORTH KOREA: One Does not Simply Ignore a Collapsed Building
RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – The recent collapse of an apartment building in North Korea may reveal how the Hermit Kingdom’s media works. A large apartment complex recently collapsed in Pyongyang, but the national media made no mention of the incident until five days after the fact. While nobody knows why the…
NORTH KOREA: U.N. Releases Report on Human Rights in North Korea
RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – It’s now even safer to assume that North Korea is not the utopia its leaders would like the rest of the world to believe. Recently, the United Nations published the findings of an inquiry on the state of human rights in the country. The report contains…