North Korean TV and web properties are increasingly pixellating and blurring aspects of photo and video material, monitoring of state media by NK News indicates.

The obfuscation effort – typically focused on material in the background of the shot – appears designed to make it difficult to read or analyze content in an increasingly wide range of material published by state media.

While such visual alteration is nothing new – modern-style buildings in Seoul’s Gwanghwamoon were pixellated during 2016 protests against President Park Geun-hye – the range and frequency of the concealment has increased sharply over the past six months.