N Korea tightens information on Arab revolts
Thursday, 24 February 2011
North Korea's regime has tightened controls on outside information amid growing popular revolts against despots in the Arab world, South Korean sources and officials say.
But analysts say the Kim family is expected to retain its decades-long iron grip on power, in the absence of Internet access and a lack of institutions around which any revolt could coalesce.
"The regime appears to be taking (Middle East democratic movements) seriously. It is now trying hard to stop it from spilling over into the country," Yonhap news agency Thursday quoted a Seoul official as saying.
I believe the North Korean people have yet to learn of the facts (about the Mideast) because the North's television does not report on them and the people can't use the Internet 
The hardline communist state has recently strengthened ideological control over its people and further tightened its blockade of outside information, the unidentified official said.
The South's Unification Minister Hyun In-Taek said in a Yonhap interview this week he expects the North to take steps to stop the turmoil spilling over to its 24 million people.
"I think the core of the leadership knows of the situation and sees it. From that viewpoint, it will obviously make efforts to keep the regime from being negatively influenced," Hyun said.
"I believe the North Korean people have yet to learn of the facts (about the Mideast) because the North's television does not report on them and the people can't use the Internet," the minister said.
"For now, the direct impact on the people will not be big."
The Daily NK, a Seoul-based Internet newspaper, said special riot squads have been set up in response to turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa.
Following a decree from leader Kim Jong-Il, the squads are working to track down any hints of unrest, it quoted a source inside the country as saying.
small sporadic protests
At present, there is little possibility of a revolution because, unlike Egypt and Libya, North Korea completely controls outside information In recent years there have been reports of sporadic small-scale protests against food shortages and other hardships, after hundreds of thousands of people died in a famine in the 1990s.
U.S. aid groups have warned that the country is facing a severe food shortage again with people reduced to searching for wild grass to eat.
There were reports of protests especially following a disastrous currency revaluation in 2009.
But the regime weathered the collapse of communism in Europe in the early 1990s and the cut-off of Soviet aid. And defectors and analysts say chances of a major revolt now are slim.
"At present, there is little possibility of a revolution because, unlike Egypt and Libya, North Korea completely controls outside information," defector Jang Jin-Seong told a forum in Seoul.
Pyongyang tightly controls access to the Internet and attempts to block other sources of information about the outside world. But DVDs and mobile phones smuggled from China have been eroding barriers.
A survey by two US academics of some 1,600 refugees from the North found that roughly half of them had access to foreign news or entertainment -- a sharp rise from the 1990s.
Country lacks groups
I don't see anything in civil society that would lead to a kind of Egyptian phenomenon But they said the country lacks labor, religious or other groups around which opposition could coalesce.
"I don't see anything in civil society that would lead to a kind of Egyptian phenomenon," said Stephan Haggard, one of the academics, last month.
The 1.2 million-strong military is seen as unlikely to back any uprising that could threaten its privileges.
The North launched a 3G mobile phone network in December 2008 with the help of an Egyptian firm. Overall mobile penetration remains at around one to two percent of the population.
Television and radio sets have for decades been supplied with tuning dials fixed to state broadcasting stations. Residents in border areas who try to tune in to South Korean programs can face severe punishment.
"There is almost no chance of a popular uprising as seen in the Middle East," said Yang Moo-Jin, of Seoul's University of North Korean Studies.
"I'm certain that the regime is closely watching international trends. The Middle East situation will have a psychological impact on its leadership, leading to tighter control," Yang told AFP.
"However, there is no civic network that will transform public complaints into an organized anti-government movement. And there will be no coup or revolt by North Korean troops because of their loyalty to the regime."
