{"id":2875,"date":"2016-12-28T10:37:04","date_gmt":"2016-12-28T01:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.01.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang-2\/2016\/12\/report\/20161228-market-economy-realty-07\/"},"modified":"2018-08-24T18:20:48","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T09:20:48","slug":"20161228-market-economy-realty-07","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2016\/12\/society-economy\/20161228-market-economy-realty-07\/","title":{"rendered":"\uff1cInside N.Korea\uff1e Expansion of the market economy as the driving force behind social transformation--based on sources from inside N.Korea. (PART7) Information from outside being commodified and spread across the country. The government is losing control of the movement of citizens. by ISHIMARU Jiro"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>

\u201cHow to crash the strategy of our enemies that disseminates a harmful lifestyle,\u201d a textbook for the general public in North Korea issued in 2005 (ASIAPRESS)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

2016\/Dec\/28<\/em><\/p>\n

5-3 The control of information is being weakened<\/strong><\/p>\n

The North Korean government has thoroughly prohibited the access of foreign TV programs, radio stations, newspapers, books, and videos except those that have passed through censorship. The newspapers and books in the Korean language published in Jilin Province, China, also get confiscated on arrival by immigration authorities.\u00a0 In North Korea people can only enjoy the state-broadcasted TV and radio and have almost no opportunity to be in contact with foreign tourists visiting the country.\u00a0 That is because the regime considers the information from outside as an existential threat to their governance.
\n Related Article:\u00a0\uff1cInside N. Korea\uff1e Expansion of the market economy as the driving force behind social transformation\u2013based on sources from inside North Korea. (PART1)<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

However, the expansion of the market economy has been a fatal blow to the strict restriction of information getting into the country. Outside information itself has become widely spread and a commodity to be sold in the markets.\u00a0 Since around 2004 a huge amount of South Korean films and TV drama series have entered into North Korea and gained massive popularity. How do these videos get into North Korea without being blocked by censorship or immigration?<\/p>\n

<\/a>

Homeless children selling a VCD or DVD from South Korea at a market. March 2013 in Sinuiju, North Pyongan Province. Taken by ASIAPRESS<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The main broadcastings from within South Korea are also transmitted by satellite at the same time.\u00a0 One can watch them in northeastern China or even in Japan as long as you have a parabolic antenna and a tuner.\u00a0 Needless to say, one is strictly banned from watching them in North Korea.\u00a0 South Korean TV series are so popular among ethnic Koreans in China that illegally copied ones are sold at markets a few days after their broadcast by satellite.\u00a0 At first, they were sold as VCD, having a low quality, but now DVD took it over and offers better quality.\u00a0 Eventually, pirated South Korean films and TV series get copied and cross the Amrok-gang (Yalu River) and the Tuman-gang (Tumen River) to enter North Korea.
\n Next page:\u00a0 The tide of digitized video has gained momentum since the 2000s in North Korea...<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>

So called \u201cNotetell\u201d device, a battery-operated and easy-to-use DVD player from China. It became popular around 2010 due to its mobility and convenience. June 2013, taken in a house of a reporting partner in the northern part of North Korea.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Since 2000, digitized video devices such as cheap Chinese CD and DVD players have become prevalent.\u00a0 The government did not originally regulate the devices itself.\u00a0 Perhaps it was because they can also be used for showing propaganda videos to its citizens.<\/p>\n

South Korean TV programs, attracted the many North Korean viewers, and were the hottest items sold in the black markets.\u00a0 Since they made business profitable, the newest dramas were ones increasingly smuggled and disseminated all across the country. The countermeasure, called \u201celiminate the impure videos\u201d, has been repeatedly taken by the government to crackdown on these DVDs, however, it has not yet been fully achieved.\u00a0 The market for outside information, which is based on the curiosity of the North Korean citizens, could not be put back in its box.\u00a0 A number of videos from South Korea, the eternal enemy of the North Korean state, have become prevalent in North Korea: a situation very much feared by the regime.
\n Related Article:\u00a0\uff1cInside N. Korea\uff1e Market survey shows \u201cResolution 2270\u201d, the toughest-ever sanctions, didn\u2019t work<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

5-4 The government is losing control of the movement of its citizens
\n <\/strong><\/p>\n

There is no freedom of movement in North Korea.\u00a0 If one wants to leave his or her city for somewhere different a \u201ctravel pass\u201d must be issued. A \u201ctravel pass\u201d is issued by the Provisional People\u2019s Committee of North Korea or by the police.\u00a0 Marriages, funerals, and a business trips were the only applicable reason for getting a pass in the past.\u00a0 Nowadays, however, only a small bribe is needed to get one.\u00a0 The transformation has been caused by the expansion of the black market, drastically increasing the demand for the transport of people and goods.\u00a0 [Note; Having said that, The Korean Demilitarized Zone, the de facto border between South Korea and North Korea as well as the Chinese border still maintains a harsh restriction of movement.] \u00a0It can be said that the government has been losing control over the movement of citizens and goods.\u00a0[To be continued in part 8<\/a><\/span>]\n

\uff1cMarket Economy in N.Korea\uff1e View article sections<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u3010Related Article<\/strong>\u3011
\n \u25c6 [Video Report] A rare glimpse of \u2018No. 10 Checkpoints\u2019 set up by the State Security Department<\/a><\/span>
\n \u25c6 Delinquent Juveniles Mobilized For Forced Labor<\/a><\/span>
\n \u25c6 [Video Report] Back alley of Pyongyang: Never let foreigners go. Residents of central Pyongyang live on businesses in the market<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\"rimjingang_banner001\"*\u00a0<\/span><\/a>Editor\u2019s notes on North Korean reporters<\/a>
\n <\/a>ALL REPORTS >>><\/a> <\/strong><\/span>
\n ARCHIVE(pdf) >><\/a><\/span>
\n DPRK MAP >><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  2016\/Dec\/28 5-3 The control of information is being weakened The North Korean government has thoroughly prohibite\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[12,13],"tags":[20],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2875"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}