News & Insights

Tag: Social

  • Information Dissemination in North Korea: How People Trust and Share Information

    Information Dissemination in North Korea: How People Trust and Share Information

    Research report into how information is shared and disseminated in North Korean society. Types of information (news, videos, information), and the technology (USB, DVD, mobile, etc.) used to share that Technology, methodology and sources of information, and with whom information is likely to be shared, and where it is likely to be shared.

    Key takeaways are as follows:
    • North Korea’s information control strategy minimizes general social trust. Hence, strangers cannot be trusted, and supposedly neutral sites like outdoor spaces are dangerous for the acquisition of illicit content.

    • Friends and family are trusted sources and conduits of information dissemination. The state has seemingly not been able to co-opt and control family and friendship bonds to any where near the same extent as it has fomented distrust between neighbors and strangers.

    • Markets are less favored for foreign content acquisition than one’s own home or the homes of others, but the least favored place is general outdoor locations.

    • Information dissemination strategies that rely on markets and commercial activities must reckon with the state’s relentless drive to control all activity outside the home.

    • North Koreans are unlikely to share information with strangers, might share with a neighbor, and are likely to share with friends and family. If North Koreans acquire foreign information, they are highly likely to share it with friends and family (roughly 75% of the time).

    • With whom North Koreans share information is influenced by the source.

    • The North Korean state’s information control strategies appear to be adapted to the peculiarities of North Korean society. The North
    Korean state remains dominant at every level of North Korean society.

    https://scdenney.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/for-ngos_information-dissimination-in-north-korea_ward-and-denney_ned-2022.pdf

  • Neighborhood Social Cohesion and Post-Traumatic Stress Among Female North Korean Defectors

    Neighborhood Social Cohesion and Post-Traumatic Stress Among Female North Korean Defectors

    Loneliness negatively predicts post-traumatic growth (PTG) among North Korean defectors (NKD), one of the representative groups of refugees. Additionally, evidence also suggests that females, who account for 70% of NKDs entering South Korea, are vulnerable not only to past trauma but also to the current acculturation stress and loneliness affected by neighborhood social cohesion. This study explores whether the mediating effect of loneliness on the relationship between acculturation stress and PTG was moderated by the neighborhood social cohesion among female NKDs.

    In this study, the data of 166 female NKDs who completed an online survey regarding acculturation stress, PTG, loneliness, and neighborhood social cohesion were used. Moderated mediation analysis was conducted using SPSS PROCESS macro program. Neighborhood social cohesion moderated the mediation effect of loneliness on the association between acculturation stress. The indirect effect of acculturation stress on PTG through loneliness was notably high for those with low neighborhood social cohesion.

    Therefore, increasing neighborhood social cohesion would reduce loneliness caused by acculturation stress and support the positive growth among female NKDs. This represents the most effective approach to aiding female NKDs in achieving growth, even after suffering trauma.

    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-43741-3

  • Project Reveal: New research into North Korea’s Digital Control System

    Project Reveal: New research into North Korea’s Digital Control System

    The availability of the Internet and smartphones has transformed societies around the world. Citizens now can access knowledge from around the globe, seek out independent news coverage and voice their opinion with little filter. While state controls exist to varying degrees in some countries, nowhere is the control as complete and restrictive as North Korea.

    While the smartphones available in Pyongyang are little different to those available in other countries, the installation of custom software, a closed communications network and constant monitoring, mean the device in North Korea is useful to consumers for little more than consumption of state-approved propaganda. However, for the state, smartphones constitute a potentially potent vector for remote surveillance at scale. To date, there is no evidence that metadata is being exploited at a large scale for surveillance purposes, but this is an area that must be monitored.

    Much of North Korea’s information control system is based on the same technologies that underpin the Internet and smartphones globally but rather than expanding access to knowledge, North Korean engineers have removed or modified features to block it.

    Research explores use of technology inside North Korea, issues with usage of that technology and methods dissemination. Also explores how North Koreans are getting around attempts to block information dissemination. The result is a cat-and-mouse game involving technology, cell-phones and other devices.

    https://www.lumen.global/reveal-report

  • North Korea’s War Against Outside Information and Culture

    North Korea’s War Against Outside Information and Culture

    In recent years, the North Korean government’s war against outside information and culture has intensified. At its core, this war stems from the government’s belief that outside information and culture, which fall under the umbrella of “non-socialist culture,” causes fissures in people’s loyalty toward the regime, particularly the young generation, and poses an existential threat to society’s status quo.

    https://www.38north.org/2023/05/north-koreas-war-against-outside-information-and-culture