KEI: Soap Operas and Socialism

December 18, 2017

Romance, humor, tension — everyone loves a good sitcom, even North Koreans. But in North Korea, TV dramas are more than mere entertainment. They play a crucial political role by serving as a key messenger of party and government policy. They aim to shape social and cultural mores in North Korean society. And in the Kim Jong-un era, they act as an advertisement for the “good life” promised to the political elite.

The New Republic: Land of the Hermit King, October 2017 →

September 8, 2017

Meticulously choreographed military parades. Strident news announcements on state television. Missile tests presided over by a grinning Kim Jong Un. Propaganda from North Korea comes to us fully formed and almost alluring in its opacity: a finished product that has been carefully constructed to convey an idealized image of strength and unity.

Carl De Keyzer, a photographer based in Belgium, offers a different and more intimate view: a glimpse of the process of indoctrination within North Korea.

New York Times Op-Ed: Donald Trump is giving North Korea exactly what it wants →

August 11, 2017

If President Trump thinks that his threats last week of “fire and fury” and weapons “locked and loaded” have North Koreans quaking in their boots, he should think again. If anything, the Mao-suit-clad cadres in Pyongyang are probably gleeful that the president of the United States has played straight into their propaganda.

AP: Young North Koreans Train to Seek 'Revenge on US' →

April 19, 2013

North Korea's newest batch of future soldiers scrawny 11-year-olds with freshly shaved heads punch the air as they practice taekwondo on the grounds of the Mangyongdae Revolutionary School. Students and teachers here say they're studying harder these days to prepare for a fight.

AP: Film festival opens in movie-crazy North Korea →

September 20, 2012

An international film festival opens Thursday in what may seem the unlikeliest of places: North Korea. Held every two years, the Pyongyang International Film Festival offers North Koreans their only chance to see a wide array of foreign films on the big screen — from Britain, Germany and elsewhere (but not America). And it's the only time foreigners are allowed into North Korean theaters to watch movies alongside locals.

AP: In North Korea, learning to hate US starts early →

June 23, 2012

For North Koreans, the systematic indoctrination of anti-Americanism starts as early as kindergarten and is as much a part of the curriculum as learning to count.

AP: Shades of North Korea's Founder in Its Young New Leader →

January 7, 2012

The resemblance is striking: the full cheeks and quick smile, the confident gait, the habit of gesturing with both hands when he speaks.North Korea's young new leader, Kim Jong Un, appears to be fashioning himself as the reincarnation of Kim Il Sung, his grandfather and the nation's founder, as he seeks to solidify his hold on the nation of 24 million in the wake of his father's death last month.

Mar 26, 2023

BBC: The Lazarus Heist

Download all episodes of The Lazarus Heist, watch Lazarus Heist animations, read our feature story about the hackers and view visualizations of the podcast episodes on Lazarus Heist homepage on the BBC World Service website!

Mar 10, 2023

BBC: The Lazarus Heist: Season 2 trailer

The hackers are back – and they are accused of being more dangerous than ever. Their cyber-attacks are getting more sophisticated and audacious. It’s claimed they are getting away with billions. North Korea denies everything.

Sep 20, 2022

BBC: The Lazarus Heist - LIVE!

Lazarus Heist live

A special episode recorded in front of an audience in New York. What’s it like working in North Korea? How are hackers tracked in real time? #LazarusHeist

Apr 18, 2021

BBC: The Lazarus Heist, S1, Ep1: Hacking Hollywood

A movie, Kim Jong-un and a devastating cyber attack. The story of the Sony hack. How the Lazarus Group hackers caused mayhem in Hollywood and for Sony Pictures Entertainment. And this is just the beginning…

Aug 11, 2017

New York Times Op-Ed: Donald Trump is giving North Korea exactly what it wants

Aug 10, 2017

Esquire: Inside Kim Jong Un's bloody scramble to kill off his family

While Kim Jong Un stares down his enemies abroad, it's easy to forget that he's also fighting a battle from within his own borders: to survive at all costs. Like any autocratic leader, he's under constant pressure to maintain order and allegiance. But his youth and inexperience make staying in power that much more of a challenge, which in turn requires absolute control. Opposition must be eliminated. No one is safe, not even his own family.

Feb 24, 2017

New York Times Op-Ed: North Korea's Palace Intrigue

After the 14th-century Korean ruler Taejo, founder of the Joseon dynasty, chose the youngest of his eight sons to succeed him, a spurned son killed the heir apparent and at least one of his other half brothers and eventually rose to the throne. Today, rumors of royal fratricide are again swirling, this time around the court of Kim Jong-un, the ruler of North Korea.

PYONGYANG, North Korea -- Middle school students work on a computer in front of a poster of North Korea's rockets and satellites behind them in this photo taken in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Oct. 24, 2011. (Photo credit: Jean H. Lee)

Jan 7, 2016

New York Times Magazine: Kim Jong Un's Generational Ambitions

It was party time in Pyongyang. Workers scrambled to hang congratulatory banners in the lobby of the Koryo Hotel, my home away from home in the North Korean capital, where I was posted as an Associated Press correspondent. A gaggle of cooks, still in aprons and chef’s hats, dashed out from the kitchen to watch the festivities, and mothers tightened the pink bows in their daughters’ hair as the girls fidgeted in anticipation.

Jul 20, 2013

AP: Vet Returns to North Korea for 1st Black Navy Aviator

Two years after he made history by becoming the Navy's first black pilot, Ensign Jesse Brown lay trapped in his downed fighter plane in subfreezing North Korea, his leg broken and bleeding. His wingman crash-landed to try to save him, and even burned his hands trying to put out the flames.

Apr 29, 2013

AP: Pyongyang Glitters, but Rest of North Korea Still Dark

A year after leader Kim Jong Un promised in a speech to bring an end to the "era of belt-tightening" and economic hardship in North Korea, the gap between the haves and have-nots has only grown with Pyongyang's transformation.

Sep 24, 2012

AP: Sweeping New Changes Expected at North Korean Farms

North Korean farmers who have long been required to turn most of their crops over to the state may now be allowed to keep their surplus food to sell or barter in what could be the most significant economic change enacted by young leader Kim Jong Un since he came to power nine months ago.

Jul 12, 2012

AP: Ex-North Korean Star Recalls 'Ping Pong Diplomacy'

Her eyes well up when Li Pun Hui recalls her role in a historic example of "ping pong diplomacy."

"For 50 days, 24 hours a day, we lived together as one, trained together, slept in the same room and ate all our meals together," Li told The Associated Press at an interview in Pyongyang. "We shared the same food and our feelings."

Jun 23, 2012

AP: In North Korea, learning to hate US starts early

Apr 8, 2012

AP: North Korea's Bethlehem is Birthplace of Kim Religion

As the snow drifts through the towering evergreen trees, silence enshrouds this remote pilgrimage site, a place some here consider the Bethlehem of North Korea.

As North Korea celebrates the centenary of Kim Il Sung's birth, his past, like the misty peaks of Mount Paektu, remains veiled in myth.

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