North Korea's regime is digitalizing its propaganda documents through a dedicated PC platform called "Napalsu" designed specifically for propaganda activities. According to ASIAPRESS reporting partners, customized materials for different organizations are now being distributed through this platform, with paper documents becoming increasingly rare. This appears to be an effort to prevent information leaks and improve administrative efficiency. (JEON Sung-jun / KANG Ji-won)
◆ Digitized Propaganda Methods Make Paper Materials Hard to Find
Until the early 2010s, North Korean internal documents were primarily leaked to overseas media in physical form across the border. Gradually, these evolved into photographed images of internal documents being transmitted and leaked. However, recent government policies show a shift toward electronic document distribution.
A female reporting partner living in the northern region reported the following about recent changes in propaganda methods in mid-May:
"It's hard to see paper lecture materials now. Lecture materials are being distributed through computers connected to company intranets. Materials for studying greatness, political situation briefings, and anti-socialist criticism materials are used daily during reading sessions."
※ "Reading sessions" (dokbo) are a uniquely North Korean propaganda method where members of schools or workplaces gather each morning before starting their daily activities to listen to readings from the Rodong Sinmun newspaper or current party policies, typically led by cell secretaries or propaganda officials assigned to each unit.
※ A "cell" refers to the lowest-level organization of North Korea's Workers' Party, responsible for directly organizing and guiding individual party members.
◆ What is 'Napalsu'?
Customized materials produced centrally are transmitted to various institutions through a PC platform called "Napalsu," with access limited to propaganda personnel only, according to the source.
"They call the platform 'Napalsu,' and only cell secretaries and propagandists can access it. You can view it using portable computers (laptops)."
"Napalsu" is a conventional term in North Korea referring to propaganda institutions and their workers mobilized to disseminate and implement the authorities' ideology and intentions to the masses. This is likely why the Kim Jong-un regime named the platform "Napalsu."
◆ Paper Publications Tracked Through Recovery Reports
The circulation of printed materials is also declining rapidly. Reporting Partner A said it's difficult to encounter printed materials other than the Rodong Sinmun newspaper:
"Magazines are gradually disappearing, and documents are being processed by computer, citing paper waste. Even printing houses have established a system to report the recovery status of printed materials."
It appears that once any document is printed, it must be recovered and disposed of by the respective printing house after use.
The reporting partner noted that control intensity is particularly high in border areas, explaining that "access to publications is limited to designated people, and unlike before, it's now impossible to go to propaganda department officials' homes to get discarded documents as scrap paper due to strict management."
◆ Women's Union Education Also Digitized... Regular Computer Training for Officials
These changes extend beyond document delivery methods to include learning approaches for various organizations, including the Women's Union, and digital capacity training for officials.
"The Women's Union conducted all lectures this way this year, and there are hardly any study session materials carried around on paper. Officials receive regular computer training."
※ Women's Union refers to the "Korean Socialist Women's Union," mainly composed of housewives without workplace affiliations.
This trend appears to go beyond digitization in specific sectors, representing the authorities' strategy to prevent domestic information from being exposed to the outside world using new technology while enhancing surveillance and control efficiency.
※ ASIAPRESS communicates with its reporting partners through Chinese cell phones smuggled into North Korea.
