How much do North Koreans know about the outside world?

It’s well-known that information is tightly controlled in North Korea, but it’s also well-known that banned DVDs and other media are often smuggled across the border with China and sold throughout the country.

Ordinary North Koreans have very skimpy knowledge about the outside world. An extension of the isolationist policies of 19th century Joseon, the North Korean government maintains thorough control to sever society from the outside world, lest its people see through the illusion created about other countries.

If caught accessing foreign magazines, newspapers, radio, or television, you will be sent to a reformatory, political prisoner camp, or, in the worst case, shot to death.

Regardless, there are some foreign literature and scientific magazines that are introduced to North Korea. And some learn about the world through books like the Guinness World Records.

Up until the early 1990s, many classic foreign novels were translated and published. While the majority grow up mainly reading and watching stories about the Kim family, those who read avidly during this time are able to name well-known authors such as Henrik Ibsen, Honoré de Balzac, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, and Margaret Mitchell.

Things about South Korea always pique the interest of North Koreans. They see how the financial aid sent from defectors in the South to their families in the North have transformed lives.

The families of defectors live in decent comfort, as long as they don’t get in trouble with the ministry of state security and the public security station (보안서).

Many, especially those in the border area, outright wish that their grown-up children manage to make it to South Korea someday.

After South Korea, people also want to hear about the U.S. and China. North Koreans are taught that the failure of their economy is due to U.S. sanctions, so they hope for a day when such measures are lifted so that their country can prosper and be properly accepted in international society.

Television and newspapers are one source of information, but people generally rely on news from smugglers and traders that frequently cross the border. North Korea’s geographic proximity allows them to have rather easy access about what’s going on on the other side of the Yalu River.

It’s possible that uneducated people who live outside of Pyongyang are completely ignorant about the world beyond their country’s borders. Many probably have no idea about what nations exist in the world, how other people live, and what races and tribes are out there.