A morning walk through the streets of Kaesong. An idyllic drive through the North Korean countryside. An ordinary resident playing a mobile game on a modern smartphone.

At first glance, these videos and others shared by the new TikTok channel “Life in North Korea” bear the hallmarks of state propaganda aimed at portraying the country as a socialist paradise. International media have even described the account, which now boasts over 200,000 followers and counting, as Pyongyang’s latest foray into spreading propaganda online after past efforts on YouTube.

But a closer look reveals that the clips from the channel —