North Korean Propaganda Becomes Accessible as South Korea Relaxes Censorship Rules

North Korea’s State Media Now Accessible to South Koreans as Restrictions Ease

For 59-year-old North Korean physician and defector Han Hyeon-yeong, the Rodong Sinmun — the official newspaper of Pyongyang’s ruling Workers’ Party — once symbolized her family’s privileged political status. Her father, a local party official, received regular deliveries of the paper, something that distinguished their household when she was growing up.

“That signified that we possessed a certain status when I was a young girl,” Han recalled, adding that she began reading its editorials from age five to improve her literacy skills. But for ordinary North Koreans and most South Koreans, access to the publication was severely restricted.

That changed in December when South Korea’s Ministry of Unification announced a significant policy shift. Physical copies of the Rodong Sinmun would be reclassified from “special materials” and “enemy propaganda” to “general material,” allowing ordinary citizens to read the paper without prior approval.

The decision came after President Lee Jae Myung criticized the previous restrictions for underestimating the public’s ability to judge North Korean information independently. Following consultations with relevant agencies, including the National Intelligence Service, the ministry implemented the necessary changes to ease access.

While conservatives have warned that loosening access to Pyongyang’s propaganda could allow pro-North Korean ideology to permeate South Korean society, experts believe such concerns are exaggerated.

“The policy shift doesn’t change much in practice,” said Lee Sung-yoon, a principal fellow at the Sejong Institute’s Center for Korean Peninsula Strategy, citing “widespread apathy toward North Korean affairs” among South Koreans. He noted that those requiring access for professional purposes have long circumvented obstacles through virtual private networks.

The South Korean government still blocks dozens of North Korean websites, including those operated by the Rodong Sinmun and the Korean Central News Agency. However, the Unification Ministry has indicated it will seek to ease access to these websites as well, reflecting growing confidence in South Koreans’ critical assessment abilities.

Despite the reclassification, physical access remains limited. The newspapers are available at only about 20 institutions nationwide, including the Information Center of North Korea at the National Library and the Unification Ministry’s North Korea Resource Center.

According to library staff, the newspapers are imported via third countries and often delayed by customs procedures. The center typically receives one to two weeks’ worth of issues at a time, meaning even the most recent copies are usually outdated. Photography is prohibited, and digital access to recent editions remains restricted.

For those who do gain access, the Rodong Sinmun offers a concentrated example of how North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party presents itself and portrays the world. Each issue runs just six pages, with color photographs limited to the front page. The January 5 edition was dominated by coverage of a hypersonic missile test conducted the day before.

Nearly half the text is devoted to remarks by leader Kim Jong-un, whose name appears in a distinctive font throughout the paper. His words are visually separated using double brackets and a different typeface, while photographs reinforce his prominence by showing him directing military activities.

Almost every report includes a quote attributed to Kim before describing how local organizations are implementing his instructions. Advertisements are entirely absent, underscoring the paper’s role as an ideological organ rather than a source of civic or commercial information.

“While its ritualized praise of the regime’s leadership can seem laughable, the paper does offer clues about policy direction if one reads carefully,” noted Lee Sung-yoon. He highlighted that statements issued under the name of Kim Yo-jong, Kim’s powerful sister, are closely scrutinized by South Korean officials for insights about Pyongyang’s intentions.

Domestic developments appear in strictly positive formats that double as moral instruction. A story on the completion of “modest yet modern” housing in Ryanggang Province attributes the project to Kim’s desire to make North Koreans “the happiest people in the world.”

Han, who defected in 2009, said such stories became less credible as she grew older. “Achievements were almost always exaggerated,” she recalled, citing instances where officials were praised for keeping factories running despite shortages, only for people to later discover they were unable to help in practice.

International news, confined to the bottom half of the final page, focuses almost exclusively on war, crime, social disorder, and natural disasters. Israel appears as an aggressor, the United States as a destabilizing force, and Western societies as governed by “the law of the jungle” where “the strong prey on the weak.”

According to Han, most North Koreans eventually realize that this negative portrayal of world events “was aimed at flattering the regime.” She attributed her decision to escape North Korea to “word-of-mouth from people who had crossed the border into China that South Korea was much better off than we had been told.”

As South Korea continues to ease restrictions on North Korean media, citizens will have greater opportunities to glimpse firsthand how Pyongyang attempts to shape the worldview of one of the world’s most isolated populations—perhaps with less risk of influence than previously feared.