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A closer look at North Korea’s Manbang IPTV box
It has been two and a half years since North Korean TV showcased a new IP streaming television service called “Manbang” (만방). Since then, it occasionally appears in state media but it’s still largely a mystery. The Manbang service is quite impressive in that it mirrors the comprehensive live and on-demand services offered by many…
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Kim Jong Un’s New Year’s Address: The Art of Propaganda
Kim Jong Un’s New Year’s address got a makeover in 2019. Gone was the lectern and flowers in front of a large assembly hall, and in came an armchair and a more relaxed style. KCTV thankfully got rid of most of the absurd recorded applause that punctuated his speech in previous years, although snippets were…
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North Korean Media: KCTV’s Coverage of Kim Jong Un’s Diplomatic Push in 2018
North Korea’s state broadcaster, Korean Central Television (KCTV), has had to tread a fine line covering this year’s international summits and diplomatic events. On the one hand, the numerous summits have been something to hail, having put Kim Jong Un concretely on the global stage, broken the country’s international diplomatic isolation and potentially laid the…
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North Korean TV picks up World Cup from Round of 16
North Korean TV viewers are getting delayed coverage of the FIFA World Cup although one team has pointedly been excluded from the coverage. For days after the World Cup began on June 14, North Korean TV was silent about the contest but that changed on July 1 when it televised Argentina vs France. The game…
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How North Korean TV covered the summit – Thursday
As expected, Korea Central Television broadcast a documentary on Thursday about Kim Jong Un’s trip to Singapore and his meeting with Donald Trump. The documentary was about 45 minutes long and gave most of North Korea its first look on video at Donald Trump. As with all state TV coverage, the documentary wasn’t focused on…
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How North Korean TV covered the summit – Wednesday
As expected, North Korean led its Wednesday programming with a series of reports on the Tuesday summit between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump. The coverage was led by a report anchored by Ri Chun Hee and was broadcast at 15:09; 17:00; 20:00 and 22:07. But, the broadcaster didn’t use any still images to illustrate the…
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How North Korean TV covered the summit – Tuesday
North Koreans eager to hear news from Singapore of the summit between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump will have to wait a little longer. On Tuesday at 3pm, moments after the two leaders had signed their agreement, Korean Central Television came on air as scheduled. After the obligatory national anthem and Songs of both…
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How North Korean TV covered the summit – Monday
The summit was headline news across North Korean state media outlets on Monday morning, or more accurately it was Kim Jong Un’s departure from Pyongyang, his arrival in Singapore and his meeting with the Singaporean PM that was the focus of the stories. Despite little coverage until now, the stories all noted that Kim would…
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How North Korean TV covered the summit – Sunday
On the day that both Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump arrived in Singapore for talks that could change the course of the nation, North Korean state TV and the state-run news service were silent about any of the events taking place in South East Asia. State media rarely reports on the activities of Kim…
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KCTV airing multi-part Chinese drama series
Korean Central Television is currently airing a 36-part drama series from Chinese state television in a departure from recent programming that has been almost exclusively domestic. The CCTV drama called “Mao Anying” (“모안영” “毛岸英”) covers the life of Mao Anying, the eldest son of Mao Zedong, and began airing in primetime on May 10. That was…
