N. Korean media mum on summit
Public has been told little of upcoming Kim-Trump meeting
While most of the free world is being inundated with news about President Donald Trump’s upcoming summit with Kim Jong Un, North Koreans have been told almost nothing about the historic meeting.
“They have been told there is a summit coming up,” said Hazel Smith, a professor at the University of London and expert on North Korea. Beyond that, the country’s state-controlled media, known for its widespread propaganda, has said little.
The internet is banned and the newspaper and broadcast media are controlled by Kim’s government. Reading or watching foreign media is illegal and could mean a lengthy sentence in a labor camp, said Fyodor Tertitskiy, an analyst at NK News, which tracks developments in North Korea. Only a few of the country’s elite have access to satellite television or the internet.
The state media has barely mentioned the main topic of the meeting: denuclearization.
Editorials in Rodong Sinmun, the state-controlled newspaper, have made occasional vague reference to North Korea being part of a nuclear-free world, said Michael Madden, director of NK Leadership Watch, which tracks developments in the isolated nation.
That message supports Kim’s view of the summit as two major nuclear powers discussing arms reduction.
But the Trump administration doesn’t see it that way. Washington has said North Korea must get rid of its nuclear weapons and dismantle its program.