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www.groovekorea.com / June 2014 40 ThE NORTh KOREA COLuMN Edited by Matthew Lamers (mattlamers@groovekorea.com) INSIGhT AbOuT ThE WRITER Christopher Green is the manager of international affairs for Daily NK, an online periodical reporting on North Korean affairs from Seoul. The opinions expressed here are the author’s and do not necessarily represent those of Groove Korea. For more information, visit dailynk.com. B roadly speaking, any North Korean television program can be slotted into one of a handful of categories. News about the actions of the Supreme Leader of the day naturally pre- dominates, followed by coverage of a motley assortment of meetings held in support of government policy, documen- taries and films, most of which reference the historical achievements of present and former leaders, coverage of sports and cultural events, and an extraordinarily long, drawn-out style of weather forecast. But there is also a unique show that English lacks the language to describe. The best one can do is to call it a discussion format, al- though the problem with that is that there is no discussion. These mysterious productions, which are broadcast in support of the main themes of media content du jour, feature a gathering of expert analysts offering up an explanation of whatever phenomenon is deemed worthy of investigation. This is followed by “opinions,” which always reflect the righteous nature of government policy. The dia logue is completely pre-ordained and looks it, although it is not scripted per se. The noninteractive nature of the shows is enhanced by the design of the studio environment: The chairs are lined up in a row, facilitating no dialogue, only declarations. The host sits at one end and delivers all his or her questions in a manner so loaded as to proscribe any deviating answers, which wouldn’t be allowed anyway. Take an example from this spring. Running for half an hour – meaning that around 10 percent of all public broadcasting airtime on that date was devoted to it, as state television tends to only broadcast for five or six hours a day – the topic was President Park Geun-hye’s “Dres- den Declaration,” which she delivered in late March. The goal was to explain why President Park, who was referred to by name throughout without any honorifics (the same disrespect was simultaneously con- ferred upon two other former leaders of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak How the propaganda machine controls its public – with talk show TV Column by Christopher Green / Illustration by Michael Roy smILE, YoU’rE on norTH korEan Tv