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The Current Status of North Koreans’ Access to Outside Information and Changes in Their Perception

  • Korea and Global Affairs
  • Abbr : KGA
  • 2021, 5(2), pp.97-131
  • DOI : 10.22718/kga.2021.5.2.004
  • Publisher : Korea Institute of Politics and Society
  • Research Area : Interdisciplinary Studies > Interdisciplinary Research
  • Received : March 13, 2021
  • Accepted : April 12, 2021
  • Published : April 29, 2021

kang,Dong Wan 1

1동아대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

South Korean media have flowed into North Korea in earnest since the mid-2000s and have become one of the major indicators of social change in North Korea. As the fact that South Korean videos are watched even in the closed society of North Korea was made public through media reports and the testimony of North Korean defectors, relevant studies are being conducted more actively. The question is how to interpret the spread of outside information in North Korea. It is a question about the perception of North Koreans who have accessed outside information in North Korea and social phenomena as well as how it affects the change of the North Korean system. In this regard, this study performed a survey with North Korean defectors who escaped Pyongyang during the Kim Jung-un era in order to investigate the actual status of access to outside information in North Korea and changes in their perception. Changes in the perception of North Korean defectors were explored in different categories, such as South Korea and South Koreans, perception of the North Korean regime, and democracy and human rights. This study aims to use the results as a mechanism to promote the dissemination of South Korean culture and perspective changes in North Koreans in the future. Based on the current state of use of South Korean media in North Korea, this study also explores ways to utilize media to “win over North Koreans for the future reunification of the two Koreas.

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