South Korea has an aggressive effort to block its citizens from accessing the North’s Korean-language online content. To break past the firewall, the North jumped into social media this summer, according to an U.S. intelligence report disclosed today by Public Intelligence. The move was announced by a North Korean website called Urminjokkkiri that’s administered out of China. (Here’s its English-language edition.) Clearly, Pyongyang’s working on more than uranium enrichment to harass the outside world.

South Koreans visiting Urminjokkkiri can find a link to proxy router programs to help them evade the firewall, according to the August report from the Director of National Intelligence’s Open Source Center, “suggesting a connection with efforts to neutralize South Korean censorship.” Pyongyang’s official Twitter account — which has over 10,000 followers — uses TinyURL links, so users don’t get directed to blocked North Korean web addresses.

They probably won’t be surprised by the content. Unlike al-Qaeda, Pyongyang doesn’t seem to be using social media any differently than it uses older media. The YouTube channel is filled with typical North Korean fare: gaunt-looking technicians at factories demonstrating their latest computerized controls; miners extracting endless trays of coal to an accordion-heavy soundtrack; ceaseless military parades. They appear to be clips from state television, the Open Source Center judges, much like Urminjokkkiri is pretty indistinguishable from Korea Central News Agency material. (Typical KCNA report: Some Pyongyang sympathizer group in South Korea “strongly denounced the puppet conservative group for its violence against democracy.”)

Same goes for the other social-media efforts. The North’s Flickr page is heavy on shots of flash-card dancing and joyful fireworks explosions, with heavy emphasis on the illuminated streets of Pyongyang — to refute the image of the country as an impoverished, electricity-starved prison-state. Curiously, its Facebook page is pretty barren, except for links to its other propaganda and social-media sites, garnering it a mere 47 Likes.

Much as North Korea might be getting into the social-media scene, it’s not big on conversation. “With the exception of spam markings on derogatory comments, the account operators do not interact with subscribers,” the Open Source Center notes. The YouTube channel’s comment section is mostly the expected amen corner, but TheUltramarines065 managed to sneak in a contrary message: “NORTH KOREA? WORST KOREA!!!!!!!”

But however much it tries to control its online interactions, the North can’t escape getting punked on the Internet. A mock North Korean Urminjokkkiri account on Facebook is almost entirely blank, except for a message: “THE IMPERIALIST AMERIKAN CENSORS HAVE BLOCKED PUBLISHING RIGHTS, PLEASE KEEP UP GOOD FIGHT FOR DEAR LEADER!” Ridicule: the impenetrable firewall.

See Also:

• Could Stuxnet Mess With North Korea’s New Uranium Plant?
• North Korea’s Newest Weapon: Nuke Torpedo?
• Surprise! North Korea Unveils a Huge New Uranium Plant
• Osama Wants To Be Your Facebook Friend

Authors: Spencer Ackerman

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