Daily NK

Daily NK is an online newspaper focusing on issues relating to North Korea. The site is based in South Korea where it reports stories obtained from inside North Korea via a network of informants.[1]

Daily NK
FormatOnline
Owner(s)Lee Kwang-baek
PublisherLee Kwang-baek
Editor-in-chiefLee Sang Yong
Staff writers10
FoundedDecember 2004 (2004-12)
LanguageEnglish, Korean, Chinese, Japanese
HeadquartersSeoul, South Korea
Websitewww.dailynk.com

Daily NK is a recipient of funding from multiple institutions and private donors, including the National Endowment for Democracy,[2] an NGO run by Carl Gershman and funded by the U.S. Congress. Daily NK's president is Lee Kwang-baek.[3]

History

Founded in December 2004 by Han Ki Hong and the Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights,[4] Daily NK covers stories pertaining to North Korea with a focus on inside information and human rights issues. It publishes primarily in Korean, but also in English, Chinese and Japanese. Its sources inside North Korea communicate with the main office using Chinese cell phones,[5] while it also has several correspondents based in China who interview people coming and going across the Sino-North Korean border.[6] It also carries stories from North Korean defectors[7] and monitors the output of the North Korean media.[8]

Daily NK reports are frequently cited by international media,[9][10] and former North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il's eldest son Kim Jong-nam described it as the most accurate source of inside information on North Korea, particularly the country's markets.[11][12] Sometimes even South Korea's National Intelligence Service contacts Daily NK asking for information.[9]

On the other hand, North Korea's National Reconciliation Council, in an official statement carried by KCNA, once criticized Daily NK for what it called "anti-DPRK smear campaigns," and Lee Chan-ho of the South Korean Ministry of Unification warned in 2010 that the “flood of raw, unconfirmed reports” from organizations including Daily NK "complicates efforts to understand the North."[13]

Hwang Jang-yop, a leading political figure in North Korea prior to his 1997 defection, contributed a regular column to the site prior to his death in Seoul in 2010.[14]

Thae Yong-ho, a diplomat from North Korea prior to his 2016 defection, has also contributed a series of columns about North Korea-South Korea relations.[15]

See also

References
  1. "Nimble Agencies Sneak News Out of North Korea: report". The New York Times. January 24, 2010. Archived from the original on August 19, 2017.
  2. National Endowment for Democracy Archived 2010-11-27 at the Wayback Machine
  3. "Fast and Accurate North Korea News". Daily NK.
  4. ‘인터넷 뉴스’로 북한 정보 갈증 해소. The Dong-a Ilbo (in Korean). December 16, 2004. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011.
  5. Choe, Sang-Hun (January 24, 2010). "'Nimble Agencies Sneak News Out of North Korea'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 23, 2015.
  6. Human Rights Watch (2006). A matter of survival. 18. Human Rights Watch. p. 20.
  7. "Defector's Story Archived 2009-12-17 at the Wayback Machine". Daily NK.
  8. "NK Media Output Archived 2009-12-19 at the Wayback Machine". Daily NK.
  9. Robert S. Boynton (24 February 2011). "North Korea's Digital Underground". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 23 February 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  10. For example, citations in Al Jazeera Archived 2009-12-05 at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times Archived 2017-09-07 at the Wayback Machine, The Chosun Ilbo Archived 2009-12-05 at the Wayback Machine, BBC, The Independent Archived 2017-07-01 at the Wayback Machine, Dantri - Vietnam Archived 2009-12-04 at the Wayback Machine, China Daily Archived 2006-12-22 at the Wayback Machine.
  11. Cha, John (February 23, 2013). "Endangering China's National Security". AuthorsXpress. Archived from the original on February 23, 2015. Retrieved May 9, 2013.
  12. "NRC Accuses S. Korea of Using "North Defectors" for Smear Campaign". KCNA. March 23, 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-05-29.
  13. Choe, Sang-Hun (January 24, 2010). "Nimble Agencies Sneak News Out of North Korea". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 23, 2015.
  14. "With Hwang Jang-yop Archived 2009-08-18 at the Wayback Machine"
  15. Thae Yong Ho Video Series
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.