14 DAY TRIAL // Twitter is quickly becoming the tool of choice for spreading any type of message and it looks like even the most oppressing of regimes are beginning to use it. North Korea is said to have set up an official Twitter account used, so far, for what most Twitter users do, self promotion.
Uriminzokkiri.com is North Korea’s official website. The website has now set up a Twitter account over at @uriminzok, which can be translated into “our people.” The account is believed to be closely linked to the Pyongyang government.
The account tweets in Korean and has managed to get close to 1,800 followers in a short period of time. So far, it has tweeted mostly links to articles criticizing Seoul and the US.
The exact ownership of the account is unknown, but it is believed to be linked directly to the North Korean officials. This would be the country’s first official presence on Twitter.
The service is blocked in the country and very few people have access to it. What’s more, very few people have internet connections in North Korea, or computers for that matter. Still, the government has been moving to establish an online presence and has ventured into several social media outlets.
Recently, Uriminzokkiri launched its own YouTube channel. The videos, there are 78 of them, like the tweets, are mostly propaganda providing an overtly positive outlook on the country. Most videos have just tens of views.
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, whose regime can’t be compared to North Korea’s, has recently become a very prolific Twitter user, after saying that the site was used by terrorists just several months ago.
Realizing the propaganda power of Twitter, he is now said to employ a small army of people to manage his account. As a result, Twitter use in Venezuela has exploded. It’s unlikely that the same thing will happen in North Korea.