March 29, 2024
Columns

Outside information can change North Korea. But it won’t start a revolution.

Heightened surveillance and border controls mean it's time to alter our approach to info warfare — and our expectations

For a long time, I firmly believed that the best way to help create a better North Korea, one less dangerous for both outsiders and its own citizens, was to get information about the modern world to the DPRK public. 

The thinking behind the policy is that exposure to the affluence and freedoms enjoyed in neighboring countries would spur North Koreans — especially junior members of the elite or educated youth — to start pressing for change. 

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