(triumphant music)
- [Reporter] This is probably what comes to mind
when you think about North Korean propaganda.
(speaking in Korean)
A hawkish newscast about the country's battle with the U.S.
(triumphant music)
or videos with triumphant music
of North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, inspecting missiles.
(uplifting music)
But recently, the country
has been putting out something different.
- Hello, my dear friends.
I wish this beautiful April day
could cheer you up a little bit.
- [Reporter] This is Un A.
She doesn't share much about herself,
but shows viewers the softer side of life in Pyongyang.
From where to get her favorite snacks,
(Un A speaking in Korean)
to what she does for fun,
(Un A screaming)
and where to go running.
- It's my favorite day of the week.
It's my day off.
- [Reporter] She speaks to her viewers in English,
though some videos from her channel are subtitled in Chinese
while others, in French,
all in an effort to target an international audience.
- They need to do something to kind of counter
this image of them just being troublemakers
that want to start wars.
It's not talking down to the viewer.
- Today is kind of special day for students.
- So sort of gives you this feel
that you're getting something that's very real.
This is really aimed at public opinion
and public opinion can shift political policy.
- [Reporter] While it's difficult to independently verify
what's going on inside the country,
and North Korean officials didn't respond
to our request for comment,
outsiders who study the regimes media say the leadership
is trying to rebrand its international image.
- We have become one of
the very few COVID-free countries worldwide.
- [Reporter] And revamping its propaganda machine
could sway how outsiders view the country's handling
of the coronavirus pandemic.
(uplifting music)
- [Martyn] Very different from anything we've seen before.
- [Reporter] Williams is a researcher
with the nonprofit organization, 38 North,
and he's been watching how North Korea's broadcasting
has evolved over two decades.
One of the country's early forays
into tapping an international audience,
was in the late 2000s,
with a YouTube channel for fake media broadcasts.
- [Martyn] It seemed completely impossible
for anyone in North Korea to just sort of start a channel
and upload these videos
without there being official approval for it.
- [Reporter] In the last couple of years,
other accounts have emerged on the internet
and Un A's videos are not staged like the broadcasts created
by North Korean state media.
She doesn't sit behind an anchor desk and is often outside.
Some of the videos even include blooper moments.
- Ready.
- [Martyn] North Korea seems to be slowly evolving
in the way that it's trying to tell its story to the world.
We're 20 years into the 21st century
but I think this is the first 21st century-style propaganda
that North Korea has tried for the international audience.
- [Reporter] Though it couldn't be determined
who's exactly behind these channels,
Echo of Truth and New DPRK
are now drawing more than 37,000 followers.
On Chinese social media platform Weibo,
the New DPRK account has more than half a million followers.
Analysts say this evolution of North Korean propaganda
is probably inspired by China.
- [Both] This is Tibet!
- In the next 20 days, we'll take a grand road trip.
- [Reporter] which also tightly controls its media
to sway opinion at home and abroad.
- We're also learning Thangka scroll painting,
horseback riding, knife making, and dancing.
- [Martyn] They are taking a page from China's propaganda
but it's a little bit easier for them
to look at Chinese social networks
and see what's popular and kind of take that as ideas.
- [Reporter] Among the several dozen videos
uploaded this year, one theme has come up frequently.
- The fake news is the last thing we need
in such fierce battle time with COVID-19.
- [Reporter] These videos debunk
what outsiders have said about North Korea's handling
of the Corona virus outbreak.
A World Food Programme report from April
placed North Korea on a list of countries
at risk of food shortages because of the pandemic.
A few days later, Un A took viewers
to a supermarket in Pyongyang.
- As you can see, all the shops are fully stocked
with product and food to satisfy people's demand.
- [Reporter] North Korea's economy
was already hit by sanctions
and economists say the pandemic
will likely hurt growth this year.
- Recently a western media reported
about DPRKs economy,
so I'm here today to check it out.
- [Reporter] Un A asked shoppers
if every day items are getting too expensive.
(shopper speaking in Korean)
- Traditionally, North Korea
hasn't directly responded to much press coverage
and much international criticism.
What we've seen on these YouTube channels
is trying to put a little bit of doubt into your mind,
that maybe everything you see on North Korea,
isn't quite true.
- [Reporter] North Korean authorities
have also repeatedly claimed the country
has had zero coronavirus infections.
The state media reported one apparent case
that was imported by a defector who had returned in July.
Foreign media and North Korea watchers
have been skeptical about the claim.
- There's a lot of suspicion
that COVID has already been present in North Korea
for many months now.
- The entire world is now watching
with amazement and disbelief.
- [Reporter] In this video from March,
Un A explained the regime's secrets to stopping the virus.
- [Martyn] The message from North Korea
was that this sort of well-running society they have,
this efficient government they have.
- Our respected supreme Leader has foreseen everything
at the very beginning.
- [Martyn] An efficient health system
is able to maintain hygiene levels,
which other countries weren't able to do.
(uplifting music)
- [Reporter] It's hard to tell how effectively
North Korea's new propaganda will sway foreigners,
but Un A's YouTube channel
is already getting many more views
than another one of the regime state media accounts
that was set up around the same time in 2017.
- [Martyn] I think if the audience continues growing,
I think the next thing you'll see
is North Korea putting a bit more money
into some of these videos
and they're gonna continue trying to refine it
because it's the same as any propaganda;
it's all about international public image.
- [Un A] The nation, the land, the freedom
that I can call "my life".
(uplifting music)