The North Korean propaganda website ‘Uriminzokkiri’ has publicly criticized DailyNK for the first time under Kim Jong Eun’s leadership.
In an editorial on January 28th, the website wrote, “We are furious at the strategy of lies and deceit of a small handful of human filth who are leading the anti-Republic ruckus in South Chosun at the moment.” It further claimed that “One which stands out is the DailyNK.”
“They are making fools of themselves with their attempts to report on operations in our Republic, which are happening at the universal behest of, and in line with the ardent requests of our people,” it went on.
A day earlier, Daily NK had reported that North Korean authorities were passing costs for the constructing of statues and ‘towers of eternal life’ onto the citizens, while also reporting the claims of a source within North Korea that loyalty competitions ‘appear inevitable’ between provincial, municipal and county units during the construction process.
“The DailyNK with their boldly disgusting reportage is nothing more than a base for anti-Republic scheming, where defectors who betrayed the breast that embraced them live soiled existences, eking out a living on whatever breadcrumbs the puppet government throws their way.”
While calling defectors ‘miscreants’ and ‘human filth’, the site also reserved special vitriol for the South Korean government, saying “We can only wonder what the gang of puppet’s desperate intentions are in using such human filth and their so-called ‘sources’ in an attempt to bestow their fabrications with credibility.”
The accuracy of information cited in DailyNK has been verified by other news agencies in South Korea and overseas. The Washington Post and Al Jazeera have also reported in the past on Daily NK’s role bringing information on North Korea to the outside world.
It was also recently revealed that Kim Jong Il’s eldest son, Kim Jong Nam, told Tokyo Shimbun editor Yoji Komi in a series of emails exchanged between the two, “In the case of stuff citing defectors as the source, (Daily NK’s) inside North Korea market information and provincial information is comparatively accurate.”
Commenting on the situation, one North Korea analyst said that “This kind of response by North Korea to the Daily NK is proof that its reports are having an effect on the country,” adding that “if they weren’t, they would have no reason to be so sensitive about them.”
In March 2010, North Korea’s conduit to the South, the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation handed a statement to the DailyNK warning ‘in the name of the Republic and the Korean people’ that Daily NK “stands at the front of the queue to receive the stern judgment and punishment of the people.”
