On May 9 Chris Green from The Daily NK spoke about information freedom activities in North Korea for NKnet’s speaker series on North Korean human rights.  He began by explaining that in the context of North Korea, information freedom refers to the ability to get information in and out of the country. Green went on to explain that both of these activities are centered on North Korean domestic news, “because the North Korean state news agency is absolutely useless in reporting anything worth hearing. Therefore, for anyone to learn anything about North Korea, unfortunately, people in Seoul have to do the work for them.”

Green continued to describe the two categories of reporting in depth.  He added international news, South Korean films and dramas, and other cultural information to the “getting information in” category and the North Korean interpretation of international news and market information to the “getting information out” category. Green noted that market information was of particular importance because the North Korean government treats such information as a tightly guarded state secret. He also added that before North Koreans had access to cellphones, this type of information only circulated because of his organization and others like it.