North Korea's Insta-Fail: Cringe-Worthy Propaganda

Yahoo

6 hours ago

A flood of propaganda videos targeting American users has hit Instagram and X over the past year, many featuring stiff dialogue, clumsy editing, and bizarre rhetorical questions that attempt — and often fail — to portray North Korea as a thriving, free society.
One of the more prominent accounts in this wave is @MoveToNorthKorea, a mysterious Instagram page that posts upbeat propaganda targeting English-speaking audiences. It is unclear whether the account is state-run, operated by a private contractor, or simply run by a sympathizer. The effect, however, is the same: a stream of overly rosy portrayals of life inside one of the world's most repressive regimes.
The propaganda clips tend to follow a pattern.
Many are scored to Hundred Miles by Yall featuring Gabriela Richardson and begin with a rhetorical question starting with 'Who said…' The videos are often narrated in broken English by an AI voice that occasionally refers to North Koreans not by nationality but as 'esteemed citizens of the DPRK.' The editing is rudimentary, and the messaging leans on crude reversals of common criticisms — often to surreal effect.
Here are four recent examples that highlight just how far some of these efforts miss the mark:
'Action!': The Dinner Scene That Spoils Itself
In one widely shared clip, a girl named Zin-Mai sits down for dinner with a man implied to be her father. The premise is simple — a wholesome family meal — but the guise is subverted in the first second when someone audibly shouts a word translated as 'Action!' revealing the scene to be staged.
The father's dialogue is stilted and repetitive, as he aggressively insists they have plenty of food and repeatedly urges his daughter to eat more soup and kimchi. The pacing and conversation do not suggest that dialogue is spontaneous.
However, North Korea is not alone in staging dining scenes.
It's not just North Korean propagandists who stage mealtime settings to shape public perception. During the 2024 campaign, then-Vice President Kamala Harris was criticized for allegedly clearing out diners from a Pittsburgh restaurant so that campaign staff and supporters could pose as patrons during a campaign stop, as reported by the Daily Mail.
Google? Maybe — If You Don't Touch the Keyboard
'Who says Google doesn't work in North Korea?' asks another clip, as a man sits at a desktop computer with Google's homepage open. Yet at no point does he type anything, click a link, or interact with the browser. He merely stares at the screen.
No attempt is made to demonstrate actual use of Google or internet access. Instead, the scene appears constructed solely to suggest a normalcy that contradicts what human rights experts have long confirmed: the vast majority of North Koreans lack access to the global internet.
North Korea's intranet system, called Kwangmyong, offers only limited, state-approved content, and real internet use is typically restricted to a tiny ruling elite and tightly controlled government entities.
A 'Fair Trial' in the Hostage Confession Room
'Who said North Korea doesn't have a fair judicial system?' another video asks, before cutting to footage of a crying man in what appears to be a press conference, flanked by guards. A reverse image search identifies this man as Kim Tong Chol — a South Korean-American preacher reportedly imprisoned in North Korea on espionage charges — speaking inside a wood-paneled room infamous for its use in forced public confessions. Chol's name is sometimes spelled as Kim Dong Chul, depending on the news outlet.
This appears to be the same setting where Otto Warmbier, another detained American, was paraded before cameras in 2016. Warmbier died soon after being returned to the United States in a vegetative state.
Chul was released in 2018. He has kept a low profile since returning to the United States.
'I Have… Always Exciting!'
'Who said North Koreans don't speak English?' This clip opens with a young man struggling to form a sentence. After a long pause, he declares, 'I have… I am … always exciting!' A young woman follows, more fluent, and says she studies at Kim Il Sung University — but when asked about her major, she appears confused and unable to answer.
The clip then ends before the woman names a major.
Behind these awkward social media posts lies a country where information is tightly controlled and dissent is met with brutality.
According to Human Rights Watch, North Korea continues to its own citizens in labor camps, restrict movement, ban free expression, and enforce loyalty to the ruling Kim dynasty through surveillance and repression. A 2021 United Nations report found that more than 40% of the population suffers from food insecurity.
The Korean Peninsula was split after World War II, with the U.S. supporting the South and the Soviet Union backing the North. After a bloody civil war in the 1950s, the North remained under communist rule. Over decades, the Kim regime has relied on isolation, propaganda, and militarism to hold power, while neighboring South Korea has embraced a more Western-style government and economic growth.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, North Korea's state media strategy has undergone significant evolution in recent years. YouTube vloggers like 'YuMi' and 'Song A' have tried to humanize the country by posting cheerful, English-language videos that depict life in Pyongyang as modern and upbeat, often in stark contrast to reports from defectors and human rights organizations.
'They are exploiting the social media environment where it is increasingly difficult to ascertain what is real and what is not,' Irina Tsukerman, a national security lawyer, told The Dallas Express.
Whether these influencers are state agents or merely sympathetic amplifiers, the outcome is the same: a disjointed, heavily curated vision of a regime that remains one of the most closed and repressive on Earth.
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