Global Courant
SEOUL — Three YouTube channels seen as linked to North Korean state media have been removed, a spokesman for the US video hosting site said Tuesday, after South Korean regulators blocked them at the request of the country’s spy agency.
The channels featured English-speaking young women, including a girl just 11 years old, claiming to provide an unfiltered look at daily life in North Korea as casual video bloggers or “vloggers.”
The girl, who called herself Song A, talked about visiting water parks, going to school and reading Harry Potter books.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, she released a video, allegedly recorded while confined at home, in which she praised the North Korean government’s response, assuring viewers that “everything is under control as it used to be and things are going well with everyone”.
The YouTube spokesperson said in a statement that the decision to remove the channels was made to comply with “U.S. sanctions and trade laws, including those related to North Korea.”
“After review and in accordance with our policies, we have terminated the three channels shared with us,” the statement said, without specifying who brought the channels to YouTube’s attention.
A Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) official confirmed media reports that it had blocked South Korea’s sites last week at the request of the National Intelligence Agency because the content was a “promotion” by the North Korean government and that it had a “positive preference” for North Korea.
The KCSC also asked Google, YouTube’s parent company, to remove the accounts, the official said.
Western analysts say the channels are tied to state media and it is impossible to independently produce or distribute such content in the tightly controlled North, where access to the global internet is limited to a select few.
According to NK News, a Seoul-based website that tracks North Korea, the YouTubers have been linked to the Pyongyang-based Sogwang Media Corporation, which aims to expand the country’s external reach through social media.
Twitter accounts linked to North Korea, including those of so-called “friendship societies” in Britain and elsewhere, have also been blocked in South Korea due to legal requirements.
Some researchers have complained that deleting the accounts cuts off sources of information about North Korea and its media. REUTERS
