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Many governments have used propaganda to help “sell” their ideas to a population. Sometimes this could be as simple as encouraging people to vote. However, in North Korea, propaganda might be used to convince citizens that their bleak lives are actually just what they deserve. The North Korean government controls its citizens through the use of propaganda in the following ways: 1) by making nuclear threats to the rest of the world; 2) by comparing North Korea with other, more open societies, like the USA, and 3) by limiting its citizens exposure to media. According to historians.org in “[|What is Propaganda?]” propaganda is defined as any message that “influences the behavior of an individual.” According to Charles Armstrong in “Some Historical Perspective,” North Korea has controlled its population through the use of propaganda since the country was established in 1948. The importance of control came from previous cultures that owned or occupied North Korea, including the Japanese and the Soviet communists, as well as North Korea’s desire to stay an independent country.

The North Korean government controls its citizens by making nuclear threats to the rest of the world. In [|“What’s Kim Jong Un Up to?]” Joe Sterling asserts that many are interested to see what sort of leader Kim Jong Un is shaping up to be and if he will continue the policies that his father and grandfather established. Sterling says that Kim Jong Un’s nuclear threats to the rest of the world are meant to send the message to his own citizens that he is just as powerful as the leaders that came before him. He also wants to show his citizens that the rest of the world is afraid of North Korea. In “The Ultimate North Korean Missile Threat To America: A Nuke Power Grid Attack,” James Clapper, the director of National Intelligence states that “All of the belligerent rhetoric of late, I think, is designed for both internal and an external audience. But I think first and foremost it’s to show that [Kim Jong-un] is firmly in control of North Korea.” Propaganda in the form of nuclear threats are meant to show the people who live in North Korea that Kim Jong Un is a force to be reckoned with, as well as to show outsiders in the rest of the world that North Korea has the ability to destroy on a large scale.

North Korea also controls its population via propaganda by comparing it with other, more liberal societies like the USA. In “North Korean Propaganda Video ‘Explains’ What Life is Like in Western Countries,” Max Fisher states that a video sent out by the North Korean government tries to show the US as a place where citizens starve, are likely to be poor, and are hungry for the blood of their enemies—all qualities that are true of North Korea itself. However, through the use of propaganda, North Korea looks better by comparison. As Fisher says, “[North Korea] seeks to convince its citizens that they’re not actually trapped in grinding poverty … after all; they’re living in the richest nation on Earth!” Obviously, Fisher’s sarcasm shows that most citizens have far less freedom than Westerners do. Despite what North Korea says, according to //The Guardian’s// “DataBlog” comparing North Korea with its closest neighbor, South Korea and North Korea, average incomes in North Korea are $1,800 compared with South Korea’s $32,400, and life expectancies are at least 10 years shorter on average for a North Korean. North Korea controls its populace by making and distributing videos that paint a very different picture of the country, most probably to keep its citizens from trying to overthrow their government.

Finally, North Korea controls its people by limiting their access to media, because without access to the outside world, it’s much easier to manipulate their beliefs so that they avoid questioning the sad state of the country. In “Information Technology in North Korea: A Double-Edged Sword,” Scott Thomas Bruce explains that “ Possession of foreign media is a crime, and radios are hardwired to only receive government-run media.” Clearly, the North Korean government has a large stake in making sure that its citizens see only what they want them to see. Even though cell phone and Internet use is becoming more widespread, it is still far below that of other countries. //The Guardian//’s DataBlog reports that around 0.1 people for every 100 are able to access the Internet regularly, and even this is a highly censored version of the Internet that is closely monitored by the government. Without access to the information that you or I take for granted as Westerners, there is no way for North Koreans to know that the rest of the world is much freer than they are, and that the propaganda being fed to them by the government is, at best, a lie.

In conclusion, North Koreans are controlled by the messages its government sends them. The nuclear threats it makes to the rest of the world, its slanted comparisons of itself with capitalist societies, and the limited access it gives its people are all ways it accomplishes this aim. However, it is my opinion that in our ever more global world, it will be harder and harder for a place to stay in the darkness for long.