Opinion

Anatomy of a North Korean newspaper: ‘Supreme leader loves children more than anyone else’

The Pyongyang TimesEver wondered what a newspaper is like in the country ranking bottom of the Reporters without Borders press freedom index?

Like the billboard-less skyline of the capital city, there are no ads in the Berliner-sized Pyongyang Times, North Korea’s weekly eight-page English-language newspaper.

Going by the 10 January 2015 edition (kindly passed to Mumbrella by Gwendolyn Regina, head of strategy for Mashable Asia, who paid North Korea a visit) and pretty much every other edition since the title was first published in 1965, there isn’t an awful lot of news in it either.

Unless you count the every whim of Kim Jong Un, who’s described in the opening paragraph of the cover story as “first secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, first chairman of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s National Defence Commission and supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army,” unless anyone was unclear who’s in charge.

The Pyongyang Times

Cover of 10 January edition of The Pyongyang Times

Tributes to the dictator with the world’s most famous haircut, referred to adoringly throughout the paper as “supreme leader” or “supreme commander”, make up a third of the newspaper, beginning with the cover story. Which is about Kim visiting an orphanage, a palace to pay his respects to his late father, and directing an artillery firing contest.

“Tenderly stroking the cheeks of young [orphaned] children who presented bouquets and offered new year greetings, he wished them good luck and healthy growth in the new year,” reads the story the reader should accept as being the most important thing happening in North Korea right now.

The second story on page one is about Kim Jong Un’s New Year address, and notes that over the last 12 months, “the leader’s energetic guidance and deep loving care were the main source of marked successes in the building of a thriving nation.”

But no actual news.

Page 2

“The Korean people who have greeted the new year in great jubilation and excitement are filled with the pride of holding a peerless great man in high esteem as their leader,” begins the lead story on page 2, which is about the dreams of the people that Kim Jong Un is turning into a reality, despite obstacles posed by “the imperialists”.

Page 2, inside-front cover, The Pyongyang Times

Page 2, The Pyongyang Times

“Thanks to the iron will and meticulous guidance of the leader, who does not allow any delay in the work for them, the history of creation and construction continued to flow in the hair-trigger situation caused by the enemy’s reckless moves to start a nuclear war,” reads the newspaper, a year before the country claimed to have tested a hydrogen bomb.

Worthy of special mention is the second story on page 2, headlined ‘Kind-hearted affection for children’, which is positioned next to a picture of Kim being mobbed by a throng of adoring kids. It begins with the announcement, stated as fact: “Supreme leader Kim Jong Un loves children more than anyone else.”

This, the piece explains, is why he visited an orphanage on New Year’s Day despite his busy schedule and with “so many places and people he had to visit and see.”

At Pyongyang Baby Home and Orphanage, the supreme leader “warmly covered their hands with his hands lest they feel cold and stroked their cheeks tenderly as they posed for a picture with them, saying they would be photographed badly if they kept crying,” reads the story.

It finishes with the words: “The supreme leader, who takes great encouragement from the looks of children growing healthily and happily, continues the long journey of love for the younger generation to ensure that the song “We are the Happiest in the World” often sung by children reverberate (sic) throughout the country.”

Page 3

Stories continued from the front cover, brought to life with the sort of pictures that North Korea’s media has made its own – displays of military pomp and crowds of determined-looking citizens.

The piece about the artillery contest veers into war novel territory halfway through. “Upon the order of fire [from the supreme leader], red flames spurted out of gun muzzles and shells hit the targets with booming sounds.”

At the end of the story about his New Year’s Day speech, in which Kim was quoted as saying that it would be a good idea to improve living standards, for industry to increase production “drastically” and the education sector improve with a “vigorous spur”, it becomes clear that everyone else is nowhere near as important as he is. The story petered out with the sentence: “He was followed by other speakers and the adoption of a resolution. After the rally was a mass demonstration.” Presumably not against the establishment.

Page 3, The Pyongyang Times

Page 3, The Pyongyang Times

 

Pages 4-5

This section of The Pyongyang Times is usually devoted to North Korea’s industrial and economic progress, and this edition is about calls to make happen what Kim said in his New Year’s Day address, illustrated with pictures of a steel works, coal mine and a fishery in action.

With no one in particular quoted, the paper reads that the army and the people will this year “display the revolutionary spirit and mettle of Paektu [a huge volcano in Ryanggang province] to resolutely thwart the challenges and manoevres by hostile forces… in the struggle to defend socialism and on all front [sic] of building a thriving nation this year.”

The Pyongyang Time pages 4-5

Pages 4-5, The Pyongyang Times

 

Pages 6-7

The world pages.

But really more stuff about what Kim said in his New Year’s speech, and how the rest of the world should respond.

No pictures on this spread (except for a small one in the corner of the Cuban ambassador’s wife looking at a baby at Pyongyang Maternity Hospital). That would be revealing a world outside North Korea.

The Pyongyang Times pages 6-7

The Pyongyang Times pages 6-7

South Korea, spelt with a lower case ‘s’, is accused of sabre rattling and derailing the movement towards reunification.

“The large-scale war games ceaselessly held every year in south Korea are the root cause of the escalating tension and the danger of nuclear war on the peninsula,” reads an opinion piece masquerading as a news story.

Sanctions from the US, a story quoting North Korea’s National Defence Commission suggests, are pointless. America “should remember that as it clings to sanctions they will not weaken the DPRK but backfire throwing the US into an abyss of self-ruin,” a story on North Korea’s “principled stand” reads.

Meanwhile in a yarn headlined ‘Consistent foreign policy’, North Korea is depicted as a peace-loving neighbour: “Supreme leader Kim Jong Un said in his New Year Address that the DPRK government will solidify in every respect the bond and solidarity with the world’s progressive peoples who love peace and aspire after independence and justice, and strive to develop good neighbourliness with all the countries that respect its national sovereignty and are friendly to it.”

Extract from story on North Korea's 'principled stand' to the US

Extract from story on North Korea’s ‘principled stand’ to the US

The piece condemns the US for breaking peace all over the world the previous year, when it “plunged many of [sic] countries into war and bloodshed.”

The US, advises the writer Kim Kil Nam, is well advised to “scrap the anachronistic policy hostile towards the DPRK and reckless acts of aggression and boldly make a policy switch.”

In a story on the new year’s day addresses of other leaders around the world, the heads of state of the friends of North Korea – Russia, Belarus, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Ghana – are quoted as wanting peace, unity and prosperity.

 

Page 8

After the politicking of the previous spread, there’s some lighter relief to be found on the final page of the newspaper – with sport and travel.

The lead story is about Korea’s most famous natural landmark, Mount Paektu, which reads like a holiday brochure with a sprinkling of nationalism. “When the massive ice blocks thaw they produce a mysterious sound like twang. Every Korean likes the landscape of Mt Paektu in winter as they believe the winter scenery of Lake Chon embodies the indomitable spirit of the nation.”

The Pyongyang Times, page 8, outside back cover

The Pyongyang Times, page 8, outside back cover

Sports news, again, isn’t news as such – for instance the headline declaring ‘Youngsters play figure skating’ – but it is not without charm.

“Ri Ju Won … acquitted himself well to meet the expectations of the fans. He is much seen as promising after he made his mark in the third division at last year’s Osandok Prize games by performing unusual jumps others his age dared not.”

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