North Korea building collapse is a study in news media control
SEOUL, South Korea When a South Korean ferry sank with hundreds trapped inside last month, the whole world knew about it. But in North Korea, there was utter silence about the collapse of a 23-story apartment building for five days, until state media issued a rare apology.
The North is not a black hole for information. More than 2 million people have cellphones. Hundreds of foreigners live in Pyongyang, the showcase capital where the collapse occurred a week ago Tuesday. A handful of international news bureaus, including The Associated Press, operate there, and the city sees a steady procession of visiting tourists, academics and diplomats.
But with no Internet for most citizens, a local press that operates as the government's propaganda wing and a security apparatus that severely curbs foreigners and citizens alike, if North Koreans get news about something, it is almost always because the nation's leader, Kim Jong Un, wants them to get it.
Kim may not have meant for his people to know anything about the collapse at first. Three days after it happened, a North Korean state-run newspaper carried a photo of the beaming leader watching a soccer match. The date shown on a telephone screen beside Kim was a day after the collapse, said a South Korean official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak to media about the matter.
Chang Yong Seok, an analyst at Seoul National University, said North Korea may have publicized the building collapse because news likely was spreading among citizens in Pyongyang via domestic cellphone service.
In any case, the delay in reporting gave North Korea's propaganda mavens more time to spin the narrative with a grieving Kim, who one official told state media "sat up all night, feeling painful after being told about the accident."
The state-run Korean Central News Agency said there were casualties but released no specifics on deaths or injuries. Most of the few details to emerge things that people in democracies likely would consider newsworthy have come from South Korean officials, who said they believe many people died because nearly 100 families likely had moved into the building, even while it was under construction.
"As with everything in North Korea, this is all about establishing Kim Jong Un's legitimacy," said John Delury, a specialist on North Korea and China at Yonsei University in Seoul. "Even when a building collapses, they're thinking about how to use it to consolidate his power."
Andrei Lankov, a North Korea expert at Kookmin University in South Korea, said the North continues to exert an iron grip on information.
Citizens have few contacts with foreigners; local media would never report something the government didn't want seen; and foreign reporters' movements often are limited.
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North Korea building collapse is a study in news media control