Under the power of a dictator, all forms of news (newspapers, television and internet content) are filtered by the government. North Korea has been broadcasting some disturbing videos on YouTube. The nation has been running a propaganda channel, “Uriminzokkiri.” The channel gave the United States an insight on North Korea's leadership, military, and economy.
After viewing the videos, YouTube, which is owned by Google, decided to shut down the account. The media outlet released a statement on why the channel was shut down. (h/t Rachel Leah of Salon)
“This account has been terminated for violating YouTube’s community guidelines. The channel that routinely posted videos bragging of the country’s nuclear and missile programs and lauding its leader Kim Jong-un, often with colorful, animated images of American cities burning in nuclear fire.”
According to the Washington Post, one of the videos was titled “What will the cost be for Americans, who are losing sleep at night?” The Post detailed the captions in the video: “Since the North gave notice of its Guam attack plan, there has been a commotion at the White House, the Pentagon, on Guam, and on the political scene.”
The larger issue raised by YouTube was North Korea not following the community guidelines, which includes threats or hateful content in videos. While the North Korean YouTube channel was taken down, Uriminzokkiri is still active on Facebook and Twitter, along with their independent website.
YouTube has blocked countries like China and Iran, along with North Korea. Afghanistan, Russia, and Syria are three of twenty countries that have been censored by YouTube.
After the North Korean YouTube channel was taken down, Curtis Melvin, who works with US-Korea Institute, was infuriated with YouTube's decision to take down the North Korean channel and questioned YouTube's decision.
INFURIATING! @Google and @Youtube have pulled the Uriminzokkiri Youtube Channel AGAIN! What is the legal issue here? pic.twitter.com/beR8H6w3bC
— Curtis Melvin 커티스 멜빈 (@CurtisMelvin) September 12, 2017
Joshua Pollack, editor of The Nonproliferation Review, stated on Twitter that it's the worst time for the channel to be shut down.
There has been tons of tension between the United States and North Korea since Donald Trump became the 45th President of the United States. The Trump administration has been warned by North Korea and were told keep “its eyes and ears open from now on” in one of their recent videos. North Korea doubled down by stating the "US should be beaten to death like a rabid dog” and should be “beaten to death like a rabid dog.
Trump stated that "Kim Jong Un made a very wise and well reasoned decision" when he chose not to fire missiles at Guam. Guam is a territory owned by the United States. Along with the statement made by the 45th President, Trump even threatened North Korea with “fire and fury.”
North Korea owns a large amount of intercontinental ballistic missiles. The nation has carried out multiple nuclear tests, so it's important to analyze what's going on.
“North Korea is a country with thermonuclear weapons sitting on ICBMs [intercontinental ballistic missiles] that can reach the United States. It is really important to understand them even if we don’t like them,” Jeffrey Lewis, an Arms control expert, told the Guardian. “That starts by analyzing their propaganda. Even though it’s tendentious, you can learn a lot about a country from the lies they tell.”
Lewis said the YouTube channels will help "analyze videos of missile launches and tours of factories, to better understand the regime’s nuclear capabilities."
At the end of the day, it may not completely be negative. While Uriminzokkiri was taken down from YouTube, there are three other ways to monitor North Korea's plans. As Curtis Melvin and Joshua Pollack mentioned, these websites are significant to the United States. With the United States going back-and-forth with North Korea, it's important to monitor Kim Jong Un and his nation.