Text of report in English by South Korean newspaper Choson Ilbo website on 10 December
America’s Radio Free Asia [RFA] reported on Tuesday [9 December] that internet company Google and online video site YouTube promised to cooperate in promoting the human rights of North Koreans and democratization of the nation via internet broadcasting.
According to RFA, the two companies discussed measures to distribute documents and videos containing human rights issues in undemocratic countries including North Korea, Burma and Cuba at the Alliance of Youth Movements Summit held by the US State Department in New York last week.
Officials from some 17 NGOs from 15 countries, including Crossing Border, a relief organization for North Korean defectors, attended. An official at the US State Department reportedly said, “It is important to use the Internet to promote North Korean’s human rights”.
(Source: Choson Ilbo website, Seoul, in English 10 Dec 08 viia BBC Monitoring)
on Dec 10th, 2008 at 09:59
“promoting the human rights of North Koreans and democratization of the nation via internet broadcasting.”
Um, have they heard that there is a serious, er, shortage of Internet access in North Korea?
on Dec 10th, 2008 at 10:11
That may be about to change. I’ve read that moves are afoot in North Korea to make the Internet more widely available. Details are still sketchy, and centralised control will no doubt be implemented, but China for example now has more Internet users than the US, so the days of total isolation are coming to an end.