North Korea makes Twitter debut

North Korea’s government has opened a Twitter account called @uriminzok last month, The Guardian reported. Whereas such a move from a government or a politic is generally seen as a more humanized, collaborative and real-time attempt to communicate, the Korean account is described as just another propaganda tool for North Korea. Gilles Lordet, the chief editor at press freedom body Reporters Without Borders, told the Guardian North Korea’s move into social media is the natural extension of government propaganda.

“For people inside North Korea this makes no difference at all. I don’t consider what they’re going to say on their Twitter page as honest or objective, so it’s not something we can welcome,” Lordet said.

The North’s twitter account, which name uriminzok means “our nation” in Korean, contained eleven messages on the 17th of August. Most of them had links to statements or interviews that denounce South Korea and the United States, the South Korean YONHAP News website reported.

This comes as North Korea was last month threatening to deal out “the severest punishment no one has ever met in the world” to its southern neighbour, to retaliate from naval training exercises undertaken by the US and South Korea.
Further information:

- original article on The Guardian
- the YONHAP News website story
- North Korea on Google Maps: