Two announcers from state-run Korean Central Television introduce an international art festival to celebrate Kim Il Sung’s 110th birthday | Image: KCTV (April 10, 2022)
Communist countries have never been known for openness, but even judged by such standards, North Korea looks very secretive.
All economic statistics, for example, have been kept confidential unless explicitly declared otherwise by the relevant authorities. From North Korean publications one cannot learn how many trucks and buses are in the country, what the prevalence of diseases is, and who holds key positions in the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) Central Committee bureaucracy.
Communist countries have never been known for openness, but even judged by such standards, North Korea looks very secretive.
All economic statistics, for example, have been kept confidential unless explicitly declared otherwise by the relevant authorities. From North Korean publications one cannot learn how many trucks and buses are in the country, what the prevalence of diseases is, and who holds key positions in the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) Central Committee bureaucracy.
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Andrei Lankov is a Director at NK News and writes exclusively for the site as one of the world's leading authorities on North Korea. A graduate of Leningrad State University, he attended Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung University from 1984-5 - an experience you can read about here. In addition to his writing, he is also a Professor at Kookmin University.