◆ Strict Orders for Material Retrieval and Record-Keeping
The document instructs all party organizations to accurately maintain distribution and retrieval processing records for lecture materials, warning that "if the work is not done properly, it will fall into enemy hands and be used to slander our nation."
Media outlets in South Korea and Japan, including ASIAPRESS, have consistently obtained and published North Korean internal documents through their respective channels. As various documents have become known to the world—from "study materials" targeting ordinary citizens to classified documents accessible only to key party or military officials—North Korean authorities have been obsessed with preventing leaks by attaching serial numbers to documents and retrieving used materials.
The document recently obtained by ASIAPRESS appears to be a response to such concerns.
Indeed, the document explicitly states the document management regulation: "Study materials must be retrieved without exception immediately after lectures end, and must be processed according to procedures within 10 days."
◆ Web-Downloaded Materials Also Subject to Retrieval
Particularly noteworthy is that materials distributed through North Korea's domestic intranet (which exists instead of the internet) are also included in document retrieval requirements.
"In particular, study materials and various educational materials distributed from the Politburo through computer networks must also be cross-checked item by item and retrieved without exception."
Such guidelines clearly show that the government's control over information leaks has extended beyond paper documents to electronic materials.
The order to "never hand over materials to people who cannot handle them" appears to be a measure to minimize access to information and clearly establish responsibility for information leaks.
◆ Printing Banned, Tablet Use Mandated
In April 2022, North Korean authorities banned printing to prevent document leaks and ordered the use of tablet PCs for viewing electronic documents.
An ASIAPRESS reporting partner living in the northern region reported at the time:
"The provincial Workers' Party Propaganda and Agitation Department is instructing that materials coming down from above must not be printed. They've ordered the use of 'tablet computers' for anything needed in lectures."
Unlike in the past, having lecturers use tablet PCs to deliver party policies and demands to the masses is intended to prevent unnecessary document proliferation.
The reporting partner also reported that "party and administrative agencies, and enterprises have begun strictly managing document copies, and photocopying machine use is under strict control."
With the recognition that internal information leaks can directly threaten the country’s system, North Korean authorities' efforts to control the entire process from document creation to distribution to retrieval appear to be evolving toward digitizing documents.
An ASIAPRESS reporting partner residing in the northern region recently reported the interesting news that authorities are delivering and utilizing propaganda documents through a dedicated computer platform called "Napalsu" (Trumpeter). The next article in this series will provide detailed coverage of the Kim Jong-un regime's dedicated propaganda platform "Napalsu." (To be continued in the next installment)
※ ASIAPRESS communicates with its reporting partners through Chinese cell phones smuggled into North Korea.
