More and more North Korean Youtubers are appearing, which intrigues several experts. What’s behind that?
“This tastes like milk, this photo is so cute. And this is the peach flavor,” exclaims the girl nicknamed YuMi, who lives in North Korea.
Her video is four minutes long and has garnered over 41,000 views on YouTube so far. But this “vlog” is not an ordinary one: remember that the woman lives in one of the most secret countries in the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0DZsC0iQoY
Created last June, YuMi’s YouTube channel is one of many social media accounts to have popped up over the past two years. Among these, the so-called North Korean residents share fragments of their lives.
However, experts are sounding the alarm: these videos would present revealing signs that the reality shown is moving away from that experienced by the millions of North Koreans living under the Kim Jong Un dictatorship.
According to them, YuMi and others like her are probably linked to senior officials in North Korea and might be part of a propaganda campaign aimed at restoring the country’s international image by making it more friendly, even more touristy. .
For decades, North Korea has been closed to the rest of the world due to strict restrictions on freedom of expression and access to information.
“Connecting to the outside world is an impossible thing for a resident,” said Ha Seung-hee, a North Korea research professor at Dongguk University.
YuMi isn’t the only North Korean Youtuber to get attention: an 11-year-old girl who goes by the name Song A debuted on YouTube in April 2022 and has already gained over 20,000 subscribers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9amOhVlHi8
“My favorite book is ‘Harry Potter’ by JK Rowling,” Song A says in a video. North Korea, however, prohibits foreign culture, especially that of Western countries. She also speaks with a British accent, while she resides in Pyongyang.
CNN screenshot | Song A
In another video, Song A can also be seen visiting a crowded amusement park. According to another expert, it might be that the installations exist, but that they do not work on a regular basis since “electricity in North Korea is not regular enough to operate an amusement park”, explains- he.
Also, according to reports, North Korea’s wealthy elite, such as senior officials and their families, have access to luxury. Not everyone can access it. Then, the good level of English of these Youtubers suggests that they are very educated, which also indicates a link with the high officials of the country.
North Korean propaganda is not new. Soviet-style posters, videos of marching troops and missile tests, and images of Kim Jong Un on a white horse were part of the old propaganda campaigns.
But, according to experts, YouTube videos and similar North Korean social media accounts on Chinese platforms like Weibo and Bilibili show a new strategy: reliability. North Korea is trying to show that Pyongyang is an “ordinary city” and wants to show itself as a “safe country” to attract tourists.
