Why the Western media keeps getting

North Korea wrong

Western media’s repeated blunders in reporting on North Korea show its
continuing lack of understanding and expertise.

After 20 days of absence, proof of life for North Korea’s Kim Jong
Un finally came on May 2. North Korean state media released
images of the leader touring a fertiliser factory. Contrary to
mounting speculation by much of the international media and many
so-called North Korea watchers, Kim was clearly not on his
deathbed.

Western journalists are not always adept at covering this reclusive

country, but the latest fiasco surrounding Kim’s supposedly
imminent demise proved just how eager they are to accept
unconfirmed rumours as objective news and how poorly they judge
information about North Korea. 

It all started on April 20, when the North Korean-defector-run news

site Daily NK published a story that Kim had undergone heart
surgery. Initially citing multiple sources, the site claimed that the
North Korean leader “suffered from inflammation of blood vessels
involving the heart … but his condition worsened”.

Daily NK often relies on anonymous informers in the North to run

critical articles about the regime, and its track record on accuracy is
spotty at best. In this instance, the English version of the article was
later edited to say “a cardiovascular procedure” instead of “a heart
surgery”, and the editor ran a correction that there were no multiple
sources, but only one. 

Within hours, CNN put forward its own single-source piece,

with the sensationalist headline, “US source: North Korean leader
in grave danger after surgery.” MSNBC anchor Katy Tur tweeted to
her more than 700,000 followers: “North Korean leader Kim Jong
Un is brain dead, according to two US officials.” She called it a
“CNN scoop” confirmed by NBC News.
CNN later revised its headline to “US monitoring intelligence that
North Korean leader is in grave danger after surgery” and
Tur apparently deleted her tweet, both conveying that the intel was
less than credible. But the cat was already out of the bag. For the
next 11 days all manner of news outlets and sites worldwide would
join the game of guessing “Is Kim Jong Un really dead?” and “Who
will be the next ruler of North Korea?”

So great was the noise generated by Western media that even the
normally more reserved South Koreans became rattled, wondering
if they had missed out on something, even though the country’s
National Security Council maintained that “there are at present no
unusual developments within North Korea”. At times “Kim Jong Un
death” trumped even coronavirus in search rankings on major
portal websites.

To be fair, the North Korean state contributed to the drama when

Kim did not publicly pay respect to his grandfather Kim Il Sung on
his April 15 birth anniversary for an unspecified reason. But in
hindsight, there was not even a shred of concrete proof that Kim
Jong Un’s health and the succession question merited serious
discussion.

This is hardly the first major Western media fail over North Korea.
In November 2018, the august New York Times ran a front-page
article titled, “In North Korea, Missile Bases Suggest a Great
Deception.” Written by two reporters including Pulitzer-winning
correspondent David E Sanger, it cited satellite imagery and a
report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
to argue that North Korea was continuing to secretly develop
missiles in violation of the June 2018 Singapore agreement between
Kim and US President Donald Trump.

But as longtime Korea analyst Tim Shorrock wrote in his great

takedown of the piece, the prominently embedded satellite photo
was dated March 2018 – three months before Kim and Trump met
in Singapore – and the missile bases presented as damning
evidence of Kim’s duplicity had been known to South Korea for at
least two years. Laughably, the CSIS report at the heart of the article
even featured a disclaimer that “some of the information used in the
preparation of this study may eventually prove to be incomplete or
incorrect”.

All of that, though, did not stop the story from being spread by
overeager Western media, and the Times tweeted that it stood by
the story, without elaboration.

I have come to find that Western media are quick to blame North
Korea for their own bad reporting, on the grounds that the regime
does not share much information. The CNN article even contains an
acknowledgment to that effect: “gathering intelligence out of North
Korea is notoriously difficult … North Korea tightly controls any
information surrounding its leader.” It is what many Western
journalists on the North Korea beat tend to say in self-defence.

Over coffee in downtown Seoul a few years ago, the then-Asia

director of a large European news organisation said just as much to
me: “North Korea is important. Shouldn’t we at least try to report
on it?”

That intention may be good, but does it justify publishing half-

truths or articles written with outright ignorance? Again in June
2018, at the press conference following the Singapore
summit, Trump commented that the US and South Korea “will stop
the war games,” prompting a flurry of criticisms in Western media
that he had slighted South Korea, which was “taken by
surprise” and was allegedly concerned about the announcement.

That reading of Seoul’s position was entirely wrong since most of

these Western reporters operate without deep knowledge of
regional politics. The South Korean government, under president
Moon Jae-in, has been of the position that reducing the chances of
military confrontation – including limiting military exercises – is
important for advancing inter-Korean peace. Anyone who knows
this would never say that suspending war games would worry Seoul.

In my five years on the English-language media scene, I have met

not one Western reporter covering the Korean Peninsula who could
speak Korean fluently. Whether a foreign language skill is
imperative to have when reporting abroad may be debatable, but in
the context of North Korea coverage, not speaking Korean means
sidelining from the global conversation qualified experts who do not
speak English – of whom there are many in South Korea. 

Instead, their places are taken by the convenient English-speaking

pundits, whose CVs reveal that most of them have no expertise
related to North Korea; or by defectors whose suitability as
commentators on the politics in Pyongyang or Kim’s state of mind is
compromised by inexperience or obvious political motives.  

Had Western media made genuine attempts to engage with

reputable North Korea experts in the South, many exaggerated
rumours about the regime would not receive the attention that they
do.

Already more than two weeks ago, a number of respected South

Korean researchers, including Cheong Seong-Chang at the Sejong
Institute, cautioned against overreading Kim’s public absence. 

On April 17, Cheong wrote in his widely read newsletter: “Although

there may be a temporary issue with Chairman Kim Jong Un’s
health or personal circumstance … the possibility of an emergency
in the North is extremely unlikely.”

And that was indeed the case.

North Korea frequently makes headlines due to its controversial nuclear weapons program, human
rights abuses, and aggressive rhetoric towards other countries. The country's isolationist policies and
limited access for foreign journalists and visitors also contribute to the media's interest in covering
North Korea.

During his presidency, Donald Trump held a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in
June 2018 in Singapore. The meeting resulted in a joint statement in which North Korea committed
to work towards complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, while the US pledged to provide
security guarantees to North Korea. However, subsequent negotiations between the two countries
did not lead to any concrete progress on denuclearization.

Kim Jong Un is often portrayed in the media as a repressive dictator who controls every aspect of life
in North Korea. The country's state media often depicts him as a strong and capable leader who is
beloved by his people, while foreign media outlets frequently criticize his human rights record and
aggressive behavior towards other countries.

North Korea is seen as a threat primarily due to its nuclear weapons program and aggressive rhetoric
towards other countries, particularly South Korea, Japan, and the United States. The country has
conducted several nuclear tests and has threatened to use its nuclear weapons against its enemies.
In addition, North Korea's conventional military capabilities are significant, with a large army and
artillery forces deployed near the border with South Korea.