Outside Groups Use Technology to Threaten N. Korean Government's Power

Thomas Murray | May 25, 2016
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Technology is a crazy, wonderful thing. It can make our lives easier by allowing us to stay more connected with our friends and family; it can get us through even the busiest traffic safely (like this man here), and can keep us constantly up-to-date with what is going on in the world around us.

But it can also do some terrible things. It can create roadblocks to keep information away from the population, like China’s terrible Golden Shield. It can used to spy on citizens and rain death from above using drones. And it can be withheld altogether to keep a population in ignorance.

But, as it often happens, when technology is used to suppress people, other people will use the same technology to help the oppressed.  

North Korea is a terrible place and, according to the Human Rights Watch, remains among the world’s most repressive countries. Roughly 100,000 people are prisoners in the country's political prison camps, and many more are forced into labor. Food is always in short supply, leading some people to even forage for grass to add to their diet to make their food rations last longer.

All of the nation's media and information is controlled by the state. It is heavily censored, allowing no western media at all, fearing that it would corrupt the people and turn them against their communist leaders.

And that is exactly the goal of Human Right Foundation and No Chain. Over the last year or so, they have delivered over 1,000 SD cards and flash drives to the Communist country.

Smuggling contraband information into North Korea is not a new phenomenon. Surrounding countries that are sympathetic to the oppressed citizens have been broadcasting radio and television signals into North Korea for decades, but many of those signals become jammed. Other attempts include releasing balloons, carrying pamphlets and other contraband, near the border and hoping that they will float on favorable wind currents, but those are often intercepted or float out into the sea.

No Chain is now using more sophisticated methods to get contraband across, such as drones. Each drone is able to carry a couple pounds of SD cards, flash drives, or cell phones, discreetly fly specific routes, drop off the payloads in specific areas, and then return to their respective launch sites.

The flash drives include contraband material such as western movies and TV shows, books, music, and internet-free access to an undoctored, uncensored Wikipedia.     

These groups decided to send media because it is easy to carry and holds incredible power.

“I put great hope in these sticks” says Jung Gwang-il, a previous North Korean political prisoner who escaped to South Korea in 2004 who founded No Chain, as he brandishes a USB flash drive during his presentation at the Oslo Freedom Forum on Wednesday.

Jung believes that the power of media lies in its depictions, not just of the evils of North Korea, but also in the everyday lives of people living outside of the country.

Media is a dangerous tool because it can slowly turn a people away from their culture. And for Communist North Korea, that is a terrifying notion.

North Korea has a vital interest in keeping up the idea that they are a favorable alternative to the western world. By keeping away outside influences from their citizens, they are brainwashing an entire population into believing that nothing better can exist outside of their own closed-off world.

If the citizens of North Korea realized a better life was possible, their oppressive government should be afraid that its citizens would do whatever it takes to achieve it.

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