To Communicate With North Korea - By Yejin Seo

North Korea. What is the first thing that comes to your mind after reading the two words? Nuclear weapons? Brainwashed people? Starvation? Such things that I suspect you to have thought of represent the general image you have of North Korea. However, where do these images come from? Why can’t we think of  “a peaceful country”, “a caring mother” or “happiness” when we think of North Korea? 

We can find the clue to this question when we think about the sources we get our information about North Korea from. Most of the time, the sources are news programs from broadcasting studios, and they inform us about what the North Korean government does. However, such news programs cannot inform us of what North Koreans usually do. Yet, we mindlessly infer how North Koreans would be like based on how the North Korean government is. As a matter of course, people make a myriad of mistakes when it comes to guessing how North Koreans would be like as individuals.   

On December 2012, Ronny Edry, an Israeli graphic designer, presented a TED lecture explaining how his poster he posted on Facebook which said “Israelis love Iranians” became an issue and was imitated by many individuals to become a campaign: ‘Israel loves Iran.’ He emphasized the importance of the impression people have towards each other, and said that by changing the impression Israelis and Iranians have towards each other-which is, generally, a hostile country- we can bring meaningful change, and maybe even stop a war. In addition, he says that we can communicate much easily these days than the past thanks to technical advances, and that by communication we can change the thoughts of individuals about one another.

Before the introduction of Facebook, we were informed of ongoing international issues only from the media like the newspaper or the television.  However, such limits in source caused some problems. One of them is distortion of facts and perspective. Because newspapers and the news are made by a company, they convey the views of the broadcasting company about the issue, and not the issue itself. Throughout history, the media has actually been used by governments to propagate its opinions, and is still used today in many countries. Of course, it is impossible to present a story without it being influenced by the storyteller’s point of view. However, the listeners cannot reach the truth nor have stable opinions about an issue unless they hear the a story in different points of view and decide what to believe.

Another problem of the media is the difficulties readers face in suggesting their opinions about the situation based on information provided by the media. The media implicitly excludes the readers from the issue, when they should be actively involved in it. Although readers usually form their opinions on a certain issue they are informed about, they find writing letters to newspaper companies very troublesome. Additionally, we are uncertain of whether we will receive a response when writing mails to newspaper companies while we are certain of it when commenting on a Facebook page.

Because of the development of communication, we are now able to express our opinions any time, any place. This eventually helped us to grow a mutual understanding and progress without the sacrifice of another. However, there are countries which restrict their people from communication itself. Our neighboring country, North Korea is one of them. In this case, we must find a different method to communicate and correct the misunderstandings we have.

Even though South Korean textbooks teach us that we must exert ourselves to reunify peacefully, many of us do not want to reunite, partially because of our negative impressions of North Korea. We think that North Koreans are irrational,  aggressive people brainwashed by the government, and North Koreans think of us in almost the same way. However, we hate only because we were made to hate. North Koreans' and our thoughts of each other are based on what the public media had told us rather than individual communications, and we should break these unreasonable thoughts of each other to take a step closer to peaceful reunification. 

The solution for this problem is easy: communicating. But in reality, the strict restrictions the North Korean government poses on its media and its people made it almost impossible for us and North Koreans to talk to each other individually. North Koreans are not allowed to access any media except for the ones that are provided by their government, and it is obvious that they are forbidden to have a Facebook account as well. So it is not an option for us to have a campaign on Facebook like the Israelis and Iranians did.

Even very recently, the North Korean government did not show any signs of appeasement in its policies that restrict people from accessing media freely. Recently,  Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt made attempts to negotiate with North Korea, offering technology. While Eric Schmidt aims to provide computers in every school and digitized machinery in every factory in North Korea, experts think this plan is unlikely to succeed due to North Korea’s strict censorship: only very few have clearance to freely surf the web, and most people can only use North Korea’s intranet. The incident of Eric Schmidt clearly shows how much effort the North Korean government is putting on censoring its media.

However, even under such difficult conditions, there is still hope. The pressure of the North Korean government could not stop information from the outside world passing the cracks of the DMZ. In recent years, South Korean dramas became very popular and eventually affected North Korea. Even though the government strictly banned its people from watching them, it could not oppress people's curiosity towards the outside world, and South Korean dramas are distributed in secrecy. This is no such thing to be trivialized. The heated boom of South Korean culture among the North Korean public is enough to change North Korea’s culture. Recent reports tell us that even North Korea’s criteria of beauty are changing, becoming very similar to those of South Korea because of the influence of Korean dramas. 

Therefore, I suggest that we utilize this popularity and make dramas that would show that as humans, we South Koreans all want peace than war. A recent drama concerning the two Koreas can be an example. This drama, “The king two hearts” is about a marriage between a South Korean prince and a North Korean girl. The whole drama conveys a message; that North and South Koreans are not that different, that both are mere humans with feelings, a family, scars, and love. This drama not only served to be a telegraph sending the message to North Koreans, but also showed new aspects of North Koreans to South Koreans as well. 

It is most unfortunate that we cannot have something more than a one-sided conversation now. Things are much more difficult for us than it is for Israelis and Iranians since we cannot communicate on Facebook, and the best thing I could think of is sending a message through popular dramas. However, I expect the distance between the two Koreas to shorten if we tenaciously send our good will to the North Koreans, enough so that we will be able to hear their voice as well. We will be able to have a little chat about dramas, k-pop musics, and peace. Then, maybe, in our future, we might even be able to just call a North Korean and ask, “What’s up?”