Audio Blog from PyongYang

[maxiewawa]

I've been listening to Spanishpod101 and ItalianPod101 recently; one of the interesting things that they've adopted is recording audio blogs from around the Spanish/Italian speaking world. It's got me to thinking about that part of the Korean speaking world that we never hear about, the DPRK/North Korea.

Now this might sound like a stupid question, but is there anything online about the DPRK? I'm not sure what I'm hoping to find, but I've become so interested in Korea, but know next to nothing about the average person in the DPRK.

Does anyone else know of something from the DPRK? Would anyone be interested in an Audio Blog from the North? If anyone could do it KClass101.com could.

[javiskefka]

Well, I think that you're unlikely to find any audioblogs from North Korea. Access to the internet is quite restricted, and to my knowledge is only given to those who are trusted not to say anything critical of the regime. You can access the official news organization, the KCNA just by going to their website. You could even watch broadcasts of their news to hear what North Korean accents sound like. As for hearing critical voices of North Koreans, that may be more difficult. The North Korean defectors that I have met have mostly been uncomfortable even having their pictures or names shown online. There are a few public figures in South Korea like Kang Chul-Hwan who has written a memoir and is a newspaper columnist and human rights activist, and Jung Sung-San who is a film and stage director, that speak openly about the worst sort of experiences one can have in North Korea. As for day to day life for a law-abiding (however repressive it may be) citizen, you'll have to rely on second or third hand accounts.

[Keith]

Hey Maxie,

Great question! Actually, that's something I would love to do. Not necessarily have an Audio blog, but at least get some kind of recording from a North Korean. There's many dialects in the North as well, but who knows? They might have all become extinct since the Communist Regime.

And as Javis put it so well, most North Korean defectors that you meet will most likely not be willing to take pictures, let alone record a podcast!

But trust me, if we do get any chance to put up some North Korean, we will definitely do so!

[dewnyc]

There is a pro-North Korean podcast on iTunes, which I listened to a show of, out of curiosity, but it was in English.

To hear Korean from North Korea, there are some videos on YouTube. I believe they are mainly recorded from people near the border, who are able to pick up the tv signals. I also just came across one from China.
Here are some of them http://youtube.com/watch?v=92OahC9pons
http://youtube.com/watch?v=zPAlX_SDKI0
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ISiV6vuHbOQ
From there, you can find links to others

Speaking of NK, it is interesting that at this time, the New York Philharmonic is performing there. One of their conditions for accepting the invitation to perform was having greater access granted to US reporters, so it will be interesting to see what they is reported on (and perhaps how the DPRK hides or sugar-coats things for them). You may have also heard about Eric Clapton being invited to play there.
There is also this site, which I found fascinating, about an American's travels in North Korea (as well as Iran and Iraq) - www.axisofeviltour.com

[javiskefka]

I was just about to post something about the New York Philharmonic concert. There are a few interesting things about it. The orchestra opened with both of the nations' national anthems, so it was both a rare time that the North Koreans in the audience heard a live performance of the Star-Spangled Banner and the first time that the orchestra had performed the North Korean national anthem. Also, the last piece of the set was a version of Arirang.

[the_haunted_boy]

I heard that it is really difficult fore foreigners to get into North Korea. I also heard that it is even more difficult for locals to leave.

[catherinekim]

This might not be exactly what you're looking for, but you can learn a bit about the DPRK here:
http://www.linkglobal.org

There is a brief recording of a man from north korea in "A New Underground Railroad" here:
http://changecanhappen.net/Podcasts