North Korea is the most isolated nation in the world, and the regime expends large resources to keep it that way by impeding information flows, jamming signals and creating proprietary technology and network access incompatible everywhere else.
But the North Korean people are curious about the outside world and are taking real risks to learn about it, experts say. In this episode of the NK News podcast, host Jacco Zwetsloot speaks with
Martyn Williams of North Korea Tech and author Jieun Baek about what trickles into North Korea and how. Baek and Williams also cover the leaflet controversy, Starlink, sim cards, what the North Korean news cycle is like, propoganda, evolving punishment structures for foreign media consumption and their nonprofit, Lumen.
Links: Lumen, “North Korea’s Hidden Revolution” (book)
About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted exclusively by NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists.