By Kim Young-jin
While the two Koreas engage in a game of cat-and-mouse over the North’s statements denouncing the South through popular networking site Twitter, experts here are split on whether the new platform for propaganda should be a cause for concern.
Last week the communist country created the new page, called uriminzok, “tweeting” links to statements posted on its official website. Seoul quickly moved to block citizen access to the site, citing a law that requires government approval to view such material.
The North is apparently countering by modifying the internet protocol (IP) addresses of the statement to elude the South’s Korea Communications Commission (KCC), according to a source within the watchdog Thursday.
Seoul’s blocks have triggered criticism that the administration is overreacting by not allowing its citizens to form their own opinions about the statements.
North Korea expert Yoo Ho-yeol believes Seoul’s moves are necessary but downplayed the impact the propaganda could have on citizens.
“The government has the responsibility to protect its people from this kind of psychological warfare,” the Korea University professor told The Korea Times. “But I don’t think the statements will have a significant impact on the populace.
“At the beginning, some people might be curious, but in general, South Koreans are already well aware of the North’s propaganda tactics, so no one will really be influenced in the long run,” he said.
Others have suggested that the new Twitter account could actually pose problems for the North Korean regime.
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley this week cited the mass post-election protests in Iran last year, when Twitter was used to coordinate rallies and dispatch information to the outside world, to chide the regime for underestimating the power of Twitter.
North watcher Brian Myers warns that taking the tweets too lightly could allow the regime to sway public sentiment here, leading to potentially serious consequences down the road.
“It’s not something to be laughed off, as it has been in the West, as a pathetic attempt to be hip,” Meyers, dean of international studies at Busan’s Dongseo University, told The Korea Times. “The North Korean regime has a very good idea of how to influence public opinion here.”
A YouTube video earlier this year showing a North Korean woman giving a tour of Pyongyang created a stir among Web surfers, which Meyers said illustrates the ability of North-originated online material to get positive attention in the South.
Myers warned that positive attention to the online propaganda could lead to increased sympathy toward the North. In the long run, this could recalibrate the political landscape and contribute to a “gradual erosion of South Korea’s willingness to defend itself against provocations from the North.”
But while he said Seoul must prepare for increasing online propaganda warfare, especially material geared toward young people, it should do so in a proactive manner.
“Cracking down on access to such material could actually have the opposite effect,” he said. “Instead, the government should put more effort into engaging young people through such mediums, without being heavy-handed about it.”
The debate seems likely to continue for now, as the site continues to draw international attention and garnered some 8,700 followers in a week.