How are defectors, abductees and important figures used for propaganda by North Korea?
They are mostly used to propagate the virtues of the North Korean system and slander South Korea through the media, but they also criticize the South Korean system and reaffirm the superiority of the North Korean system through public lectures.
Usually, shortly after entering North Korea, defectors or abductees assert at a mass rally or press conference that they have long admired the socialist paradise of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, and came to North Korea since survival was impossible for a human being in South Korea.
A number normally appear in domestic propaganda magazines around Kim family birthdays and Party foundation day on October 10th.
North Korea has abducted lots of people down the years, among the more notorious being actress Choi Eun Hee and director Shin Sang Ok in 1978; South Korean teacher Ko Sang Moon in 1979; South Korean Pastor Ahn Seung Woon in 1995; 17 crew members from a fishing vessel called Dongjin in 1997; and South Korean Pastor Kim Dong Sik in 2000.
Choi Eun Hee and Shin Sang Ok were even forced to film movies advertising the North Korean system during their 8 years in the country.
Defectors and abductees often appear in the media targeting South Korea, too.
For example, Ko Sang Moon, a South Korean teacher from Sudo Women’s High School who was kidnapped in April, 1979, Lee Sun Pil who was taken from the ‘202 Seungyong’, a vessel which was captured in 1991, Jong Kyu Jin, whom was a businessman in South Korea until he defected in November of 1989, Kim Yong Kyu, whom defected during his studies in Japan in 1991, and Kang Hoon Gu, who defected to North Korea from abroad in March of 1990; all appeared in a discussions on Pyongyang Broadcast during 2006, supporting and propagandizing the North Korean system.
During the program, Ko Sang Moon, who by then was working as a researcher in the National Academy of Agricultural Science, recited a poem by North Korean Poet Kim Sang Oh, ‘My homeland’, among whose refrains is, “Regardless of who, if they rest in the arms of our General, they become successful in life.”
The poem commands that the fate of the individual be left to the Party. It is a poem of loyalty known well to North Korean citizens.
For his part, Kim Yong Kyu, then working for the North Korean Computer Center, emphasized, “There will come the day when 70 million people will rest in the arms of our General and live in happiness and comfort.”
Jong Kyu Jin, having stated that he had become a member of the Chosun Workers’ Party, commented that South Korea is a place where a foreign power, the United States, is the owner while North Korea is “the bosom of the mother”. Lee Sun Pil also praised North Korea, stating, “North Korea is the eternal nest of my life.”
Kidnapped foreigners are received similarly; North Korea educates them in espionage, appoints them as language instructors or uses them as propaganda tools.
One of four American servicemen to defect in the 1960s, Charles Robert Jenkins, who defected across the DMZ in 1965, has appeared in several movies propagandizing the North Korean system, and also acted as a language instructor until he was removed because, according to fellow defector Joseph Dresnok, his accent was too thick to be understood.
The visits of former South Korean President Kim Dae Jung and Roh Moo Hyun, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and other U.S., Japanese, Chinese and Russian leaders have also been utilized for the promotion of the system.
North Korea promotes such visits domestically as examples of powerful nations coming with heads bowed to the court of leader Kim Jong Il.
For example, the visit of former U.S. President Bill Clinton to obtain the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee was labeled a victorious result for Kim Jong Il’s Military-first policy.
At the time, North Korean media explained, “He respectfully conveyed an earnest request from the United States government, offering an apology for the anti-republic hostile action after the illegal entrance of the two reporters and asking North Korea to return them.”
