Online newspaper notes more change in NK

By Kim Young-jin

The decades-old debate over whether the North Korean regime can survive has been rekindled in the run-up to 2012, the year the impoverished country has declared it will become a “strong and prosperous nation.”

The Daily NK, an online newspaper that daringly delivers information out of the Stalinist state, is on the vanguard of those who believe instability could erupt at any time.

Shin Ju-hyun, chief editor of the site, says growing discontent over policy and an increasing flow of outside information through its borders make the North a tinderbox. And the Kim Jong-il regime’s impending deadline to become powerful isn’t helping.

“North Korea is telling people that building a strong and prosperous nation is something they have to do,” Shin said during a recent interview in Seoul. “And the people don’t believe it.”

“The system may not appear to have significant problems now, but it doesn’t take much. Such regimes appear to be quite strong until suddenly they are not,” he said, citing recent popular revolts in the Middle East and North Africa.

Pyongyang aims to achieve its goal by next year, when the country will observe the 100th anniversary of the birth of its founder Kim Il-sung. The push comes as the North continues to struggle with food shortages worsened by severe floods.

Some analysts believe that if doubt abounds over whether the goal has been reached, it could present problems as the regime tries to secure an unprecedented back-to-back hereditary succession from Kim Jong-il to his youngest son, Jong-un.

“The government is focusing on the succession, but the average person doesn’t expect to see any benefits,” Shin said.

Compelling arguments are also heard from those who think the regime can navigate the rough water, pointing to technological improvements as well as growing wealth in urban areas as signs of staying power. After all, they say, the regime has dodged predictions of collapse for two decades.

But Shin argues that the stance fails to account for the sentiment of ordinary citizens — which is precisely what the Daily NK sets out to do.

“We’re undermining the North’s official opinion as being the only one coming out of the North, and refocused people’s understanding onto the North Korean people.”

Founded in 2004, the publication keeps a team of correspondents along the Chinese border who gather information from North Koreans who cross over for business or to visit relatives.

They also recruit North Koreans to be sources. Its Seoul-based reporters talk regularly through Chinese cell phone networks with the sources, who are mostly traders. Some are low-level government officials, the editor said.

The publication burst into the milieu in late 2009, when it broke the story of the North’s botched currency revaluation. Some analysts said the move intended to squelch informal markets but instead gave birth to hints of discontent.

The website has its share of prominent watchers, as it is cited by the likes of the New York Times and Washington Post. Some observers, however, still wonder about the reports, speculating they could be exaggerated by anti-regime views held by sources.

The work carries a grave risk. Shin says the regime is cracking down hard on illicit mobile phone use, using imported equipment to detect radio waves and collect information. When sources talk with the Daily NK they seek higher ground, usually in the mountains, where the phones can’t be detected.

The information is cross-checked with multiple sources, who don’t know each other, before publication, he said.

The website continues to crank out stories reflecting tension in the North.

On Sunday, it carried news that citizens are now referring to the South as “South Korea,” not “South Chosun” as the regime insists. Its source cited the growing popularity of southern goods and television dramas, which are smuggled in on USB sticks, as the driver of the change.

It also posted an article stating that soldiers, low on rations, are raiding farms in North Hamgyung Province for corn leaving famers in fear.

Shin said that the group recently interviewed 10 North Koreans in China, nine of who said they didn’t trust the government over the importance of building prosperity or that they would benefit from it. The single respondent who disagreed appeared to be a government official.

Visitors to the North who return feeling confident about regime stability are missing the message of the people, the editor believes. Such travelers, even diplomats, are strictly restricted from interacting with ordinary citizens.

“The people hate Kim Jong-il but they can’t change their society. So they give up and live day by day. But 80 percent of them dislike the regime. It would not take much to incite their interest.”

In the future, Shin hopes, all this will one day lay the foundation for permanent change. For the Daily NK, it remains an everyday labor to improve the lives of ordinary people living under extraordinary circumstances.

“Because we are journalists, we write what is true about the situation there,” he said. “My mission is for the North Korean people to enjoy enough food and democracy.”