Pyongyang propagandists on YouTube shuttered for violations

For over a year, two YouTube channels run by North Korean vloggers who went by “Song A” and “Yu Mi” offered curious outsiders rosy glimpses of what appeared to be their day-to-day lives in the North Korean capital.

YouTuber ″Song A″ talks about her life as a student in the North Korean capital. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

For over a year, two YouTube channels run by North Korean vloggers who went by “Song A” and “Yu Mi” offered curious outsiders rosy glimpses of what appeared to be their day-to-day lives in the North Korean capital.

Their videos presented a carefully curated image of North Korea that featured rides at amusement parks, peach-flavored ice cream in the summer, and Pyongyang residents fishing along the Taedong River — and none of the starvation, public executions or fear detailed by North Korean residents who were recently interviewed by the BBC.

But the two vloggers’ channels, as well as a third called “New DPRK,” ran afoul of South Korea’s National Security Act, which prohibits access to North Korean government websites and media and bans activities that “praise or propagate” the North’s claims.

Beginning Friday, South Korean internet users were blocked from viewing all three YouTube channels by the Korea Communications Commission (KCC), which controls internet usage in the South, following a request from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) that cited the accounts’ violation of both the National Security Act as well as the Telecommunications Business Act.

A NIS official who spoke to the JoongAng Ilbo on condition of anonymity said the spy agency had “repeatedly requested” that the KCC block access to the YouTube channels in question, but that the commission made the decision only earlier this month.

Just watching North Korean-made videos is not a crime in South Korea, but writing supportive comments on the videos — or even subscribing to the channels — can be deemed a violation of the National Security Act.

The videos were still accessible to internet users outside Korea on Friday, but searches for the channels on Monday returned only error messages on YouTube.

A representative from YouTube’s parent company Google told Voice of America (VOA) on Monday that both Song A and Yu Mi’s channels have been terminated for violating the company’s policies.

“Google is committed to compliance with applicable U.S. sanctions and trade compliance laws, including those related to North Korea, and enforces related policies under our Terms of Service,” a company representative told VOA. “After review and consistent with our policies, we terminated the two channels shared with us.”

The representative did not specify which company policies the channels were found to have violated.

In response to a previous written request for comment by the JoongAng Ilbo in January, Google said videos of private channels covering North Korean people’s daily lives do not violate its policies.

Youtuber Yu Mi introduces herself in her first video covering the daily lives of Pyongyang residents, uploaded on Aug. 2, 2022. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

But it is unlikely that either Song A or Yu Mi were ordinary Pyongyang residents broadcasting their lives on YouTube, given that most North Koreans are only able to access a regime-controlled intranet, which connects users to domestic websites.

Song A, whose channel racked up over 20,000 subscribers before it was shut down, claimed to have learned her British-accented English from her mother “at a very young age” and described herself as an 11-year-old who had just entered middle school.

But Tae Yong-ho, a South Korean lawmaker who previously served as Pyongyang’s deputy ambassador to London before defecting, told NK News that Song A’s father is Im Jun-hyok, a North Korean diplomat who lived in Britain with his family until 2016, when Song A was seven years old.

Song A’s grandfather Pak Myong-guk holds a senior position in North Korea’s foreign ministry while her great-grandfather, Ri Ul-sol, was a marshal in the Korean People’s Army, according to NK News.

Little is known about Yu Mi’s background, except that the facilities she frequented in her videos, such as a fitness center that provides personal training and yoga classes, are only open to Pyongyang residents who rank highly in the country’s political hierarchy.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]