Where North Koreans Get Their News

The morning routine in Pyongyang most certainly does not involve somebody sitting in a corner of Starbucks, sipping a skinny latte and checking the latest headlines on their iPad. News is tightly controlled by the regime while illiteracy and a lack of basic media items make news consumption challenging. For example, in 2018, state broadcaster Korea Central Television mentioned Kim Jong-un's trip to Singapore but nothing of his historic meeting with President Trump.

Only around 3 percent of North Koreans get their news from domestic TV anyway while the vast majority of people, 71 percent, rely on word of mouth. The second most sought-after news source in the country was foreign radio stations, with 11 percent saying they used them. The practice of smuggling thumb drives into the country and viewing then on DVD players (since few people own computers) is also popular, but this is mainly used to store entertainment content, for example South Korean drama or music.

The data for this infographic comes from a relatively limited sample size of 350 North Korean refugees or travelers polled by Intermedia in 2015. Nevertheless, it does offer a semblance of insight into news consumption in the world's most reclusive nation.