[news briefing]
When the world thinks of North Korea
images such as these are conjured up
and we really have reduced North Korea
to a story of crazy dictators and nuclear weapons.
That’s the world thinks of.
If you type North Korea in Google,
these are the first images that you’ll see.
And we as millennials
have a unique opportunity
to really change this narrative.
I think more than any other generation
we understand the importance
and the power of narrative.
And so, we are counting on you guys.
We are counting on our generation
to change and to redefine
the way the world looks at North Korea.
It’s going to be challenging.
There are several obstacles in our way.
But, they are not impossible
and I want to talk about a few of those challenges.
First, the media is obsessed
with security issues and the chance of conflict, right?
So, you have excited commentators
who often hype the peninsula
as a powder keg just waiting to blow up.
But really, in reality,
aside from limited provocations,
the general picture has been one of stability
and it’s been that way for the past 60 years.
Number 2, the media is obsessed with the Kim family.
They treat them as tabloid news.
When Kim Jong Il died
in December of 2012 (correction: 2011),
Team America was trending on Twitter.
Overnight Kim Jong Un became famous.
The world knew who Kim Jong Un was overnight.
For weeks the media was following him,
talking about the clothes his wife was wearing.
And that was the narrative,
and that was the story media had spread out.
They weren’t asking questions like,
“What does this mean for the ordinary North Koreans?"
“What does it mean for the people on the ground?”
“How does this impact them?”
“How does this affect them?”
Thirdly, when the people are portrayed,
they are goose stepping soldiers or loyalists.
And again to reference back to
the death of Kim Jong Il,
on CNN - I remember watching CNN a few nights later -
and they were trying to find
what are the thoughts of the North Korean people.
And so what they ended up doing was taking footage
from the North Korean state television.
And what you saw was images of brainwashed people,
people living in the capital
and really had no choice
but to show that type of expression.
And these are the images that we continue to see.
We would argue that this type of perception
has actually, in fact,
created this invisible barrier of apathy
towards one of the greatest challenges
facing humanity today.
These types of images, this type of narrative
does not encourage people
to want to get involved and to help North Korea.
As we heard from Hannah yesterday,
the North Korean people are facing
one of the greatest challenges in humanity today.
And then we also heard from our North Korean friends
that, despite those challenges,
grassroots change phenomena and
pressures for change are happening.
The very people that the system is trying to control
are weakening that system.
But unfortunately these stories of change
and challenges rarely even get to be a sub-plot
in this global narrative.
Rarely do we get to hear about these,
especially the changes that are happening.
It is absolutely imperative
to put the focus back on the North Korean people
in order to mobilize a global movement of support.
And that's what we’re going to do, and that’s what you
guys in this room have been doing for however long,
since you have been following us.
We’ve seen the photos. We’ve seen your efforts
on your campuses and across the world.
So, what should this new narrative look like?
A few thoughts on that.
First, it should focus on the North Korean people.
Right, that’s what we need to be doing.
We need to focus on the people, not the regime,
whenever possible.
Again, to reference the death of Kim Jong Il,
one of the things we did
immediately following the news:
we went back to our office,
and we started asking the question,
“What do the North Korean people think about this?”
So we started reaching out to our friends
and asking them to provide comments,
so that we could spread that out to media,
hoping that they would run these comments
from North Koreans who used to live inside the country
who can comment. And several North Koreans had
provided this context, they said,
“What you’re going to see on television,
is you’re going to see a lot of North Koreans
inside the country weeping and crying…
...they have to do that”.
So, being able to get ahead of media,
being able to get ahead of the curb;
providing real insights from North Koreans
and really shining the light on them
as much as possible is important.
Next, we need to humanize the people.
Yesterday, we had a lot of press here.
Reuters Television was here filming throughout the day.
And they actually did an interview with Yeonmi.
And at the end of the interview
they came up to our press coordinator and said,
“That was the best interview I have ever done
in my career."
and in my head I was thinking, “Duh!”
Their stories are amazing.
Yeonmi shared her story and was able to humanize
the North Korean people, was able to show the press,
was able to show the media, that there is so much more
than the Kim leadership, there is so much more
than a country that threatens the world
with its nuclear weapons.
And Yeonmi broke down those barriers yesterday
by sharing her story with this journalist.
And lastly, we need to focus on the changes happening.
You heard this all throughout the day yesterday, right?
The North Korean people - they’re not victims.
That’s so important for us to understand.
The North Korean people are active agents of change.
They are making progress on this issue
and that’s how they should be looked at.
That’s how they should be seen.
Not helpless victims.
They are facing challenges
and yes, it is tough for them,
and they do not always overcome those challenges.
But, if we just step back and look
at what the North Korean people are accomplishing
under one of the world’s most oppressive regimes,
I think we would be truly inspired
to go out to share those stories,
and inspire more people to get involved.
You know we work closely, directly
with the North Korean people from our office in Seoul
who works with the North Korean population there.
We also, you know, have our Refugee Rescue program
and we work with the North Koreans.
We learn from the North Koreans.
We look at them as the experts.
We ask them,
“What can we do to help?”,
“How can we use the resources that we have,
The people that we have,
the organization that has been built up
- not in Torrance, Los Angeles -
but, in around the world - you guys.
What can we do to support you?
That’s our approach.
And we take those insights, we take those thoughts,
and we share it with journalists and filmmakers.
And our hope is to provide just more content
outside of security reporting and just hoping to
get more information out there.
And we’ve been able to influence
a lot of articles; whether we’ve written the articles,
or have been mentioned in the articles,
or just lobbied major publications
to write differently about North Korea,
all of these that you see on screen
we’ve either been published in, we’ve written,
we’ve influenced, and we continue to play an active role
in changing perception from the top down,
from the media level.
But, what's I think where the greatest hope is,
where the most impact is being made,
is from the people like you, the people in this room
who have decided that you’re going to help us
change this narrative.
You’re going to be a part of
providing a new approach for the world to look at
and to see and to want to get involved in.
There is no reason why
people should not be more enthusiastic,
more compelled to be helping North Korea.
There is no reason for that.
It’s an absolutely incredible story.
The North Korean people are incredible
and what they are overcoming is absolutely amazing.
It’s compelling.
And you guys are on the front lines.
And you know that we make documentaries
and we produce online campaigns to get the word out.
And again, it’s not about awareness,
it’s not about spreading awareness
so people know about North Korea.
It’s about changing the way people look at North Korea.
It’s about changing the brand of North Korea.
It’s about changing the perception
so that a broader audience
can be reached.
Because what that means is more people,
more resources, more organizations,
more time, more energy,
is being put into helping
accelerate change in North Korea.
That’s why changing the narrative is crucial.
It’s not about promotion,
it’s about providing a new way to look at North Korea.
You know traditionally,
about a decade ago, maybe a little bit more,
media just came from the top down, right?
That’s how we learned about the world.
We learned about, you know, what a few
publications were putting out, a few channels.
That’s how we learned.
But, you know,
with the rise of social media in the past decade,
we’ve become reporters. We’ve become journalists.
We have become storytellers.
We have influence online and off
to change the perception, to change the narrative.
Reportedly, about fifty percent of breaking news today
is being broken on social media.
So fifty percent of us are finding what’s happening
in the world on social media.
Which means we have an opportunity
to engage with journalists,
to comment on what reporters and journalists
are saying about issues that impact us
and that impact the world.
And we also have an opportunity to frame
what’s happening in our own social media networks;
to our own friends, to our own families,
to frame it and to hopefully provide context,
hopefully provide a new way to look,
specifically at North Korea.
Imagine a time when you’re talking to a friend,
and you start talking about North Korea,
and this is the image they think of.
This is the image that comes to mind:
A pretty little girl, with that -
- there is a lot of hope, there is a lot of light.
It’s not grungy, it’s not dirty.
That’s what we’re trying to do here, We’re trying to -
- when people hear ‘North Korea’,
when people see ‘North Korea’,
we want them to think very differently.
We want them to think about the people
and I think that our friends yesterday
did an incredible job explaining the realities,
but also the hope.
So, our hope is that as you leave here,
you will leave inspired and understanding
that this new narrative can make a huge impact
on the lives of the North Korean people.
[applause]