North Korea is a notoriously difficult country to escape from, not only because of the physical barriers the country erects along its northern border, but because of a sickening form of hostage-taking: High-ranking officials are not allowed to bring their whole families on overseas postings. That ensures that, should the official defect, he knows that his family will face severe punishment back home. That—understandably—ensures that very few take the risk.
One who did last year is Thae Yong-ho, the former No. 2 official at North Korea’s London embassy. Thae, the highest-ranking North Korean to defect in some two decades, was able to escape with his children (indeed, he has said that he did so in part to “cut off this slavery chain” for his sons) but had to leave his brother and sister behind.
And yet this week, CNN journalist Will Ripley, reporting from Pyongyang, treats this ghoulish reality as a simply matter of “he said, she said,” and uncritically parrots North Korean propaganda.
The story is billed as an EXCLUSIVE—an interview with Thae’s brother and sister. “Relatives of defectors are often sent to prison camps or used by the regime as propaganda tools … But back in North Korea, Tae Ok Ran, Thae’s sister, calls that answer “100% evil propaganda,’ Ripley’s story, co-authored with Tim Schwarz, reads. Gotta hear both sides!
Ripley continues:
This is pure propaganda: An ‘”interview,” arranged by the North Korean regime, where people simply parrot the propaganda of their extraordinarily oppressive government. Its news value is nil.
I emailed Will Ripley two questions—for one, how did he even know that the man and woman he met were in fact Tae’s brother and sister? I also asked him how much CNN paid the regime for the privilege of entering North Korea. He ignored my questions, despite multiple requests.
“Journalism” in North Korea is pretty much useless—consider the Associated Press’s bureau there, which a) produces zero news of value and b) provides a financial boon to the regime. Nor is the AP the only culprit here: Just last month several hundred foreign journalists traveled to North Korea—at a cost of $300,000 reported on absolutely nothing, besides the propagandistic opening of a glitzy new street in Pyongyang. (Judging by their Instagram accounts, the journalists otherwise simply did the usual tourist itinerary in Pyongyang, visiting various monuments and the zoo. Of course, they packaged this well-trodden path as a “rare glimpse” of the country.)
The political structure makes this inevitable: The journalists know that they if they report anything that the regime doesn’t like, they will be kicked out of the country, or perhaps even worse, arrested. It would seem the best solution, therefore, is to stay out of North Korea. And that advice goes doubly for the Untalented Mr. Ripley.
