People living in western Europe and North America are bombarded with stories about north Korea – often centred around rumour, mysterious ‘intelligence’ sources, or the south Korean and US governments. Most stories are nothing but rumours, spread to portray the DPRK as crazy and unpredictable, but now, more and more often, we are seeing major news sources such as the Guardian, the Telegraph, and the Independent being forced to apologise and write retractions after these blatant lies have been exposed. This writer’s favourite example is a story published this year by Yonhap news agency (a south Korean news company) claiming that south Korea had ‘captured a spy drone’ from the north. The ‘drone’ was examined by the south Korean military and, upon closer inspection, was revealed to be the door of a portable toilet and not, after all, a piece of sophisticated military hardware. 1: Spy drone Reported by Yonhap (rt): https://goo.gl/u053cr Photo superimposing done by Yonhap (rt): https://goo.gl/JgjxMc 2: Unicorns Reported by the guardian: http://goo.gl/JymczK Retracted by the guardian: http://goo.gl/J08ZPa Explain the time you met the DPRK ambassador: https://goo.gl/vO041k 3: 120 dog: Reported by Independent: http://goo.gl/9FMQoj Retracted by independent: http://goo.gl/r6Bzhx Click here for an explanation on the ‘120 dog’ story by Keith Bennet of the CPGB-ML: https://goo.gl/qdmoeu 4: Execution for watching foreign films Reported by Independent: http://goo.gl/A5v6j8 Pyongyang 13th International film festival: https://goo.gl/mS4b6j 5: Executed girlfriend Reported by South Korean newspaper, Chosun Ilbo, business insider, Huffington Post, and the Telegraph. Chosun Ilbo: http://goo.gl/yNH5gF Business Insider: http://goo.gl/fzQ3H8 Huffington Post: http://goo.gl/og0r56 Telegraph: http://goo.gl/a5NkFS Retracted by the telegraph: http://goo.gl/VaitlU 6: How Americans live Original YouTube video: https://goo.gl/dHtgTo Reported by the Huffington Post as fake: http://goo.gl/dS95un WIRED has since deleted their story in which Spencer Ackerman of WIRED called the film evidence of a “north Korean propaganda video” 7: Kim Jong Ill’s golf score Reported by NY Times: http://goo.gl/RQ0lYe Reported by ABC news: http://goo.gl/rJiitw Dismissed by Golf Club Management.net: http://goo.gl/dmbxx4 Dismissed by NK News: http://goo.gl/ovs091 8: Forced Crying Reported by NY daily news: http://goo.gl/Ahe3AP No evidence to support this, also people cried at the death of South Korean leader Pak Chung-hee: https://goo.gl/teiXug 9: Women banned from biking before 2012 Claimed by NBC news: http://goo.gl/fxPcuY Video of women biking before alleged ban: http://youtu.be/pTVpBfjpE0Q?t=21s 10: North Korea wins world cup Reported by the Toronto Sun: http://goo.gl/ihB79E Reported by Unilad: http://goo.gl/0RN8gj Telegraph says it’s fake: http://goo.gl/xzeqcQ Yahoo says it’s fake: https://goo.gl/H5mi9V 11: Haircuts Reported by Radio Free Asia (on the BBC): http://goo.gl/Q2PTE0 CTV news says it’s fake: http://goo.gl/nGhnmQ The viral picture of the hair salon menu: http://goo.gl/bMDBbv 12: Football squad tortured for loosing Reported by Radio Free Asia, claimed their coach was sentenced to hard labour: http://goo.gl/IJyrso Reported by Daily Mail: http://goo.gl/FEkltm However FIFA launched an investigation into the claim, and found that they were nothing but baseless rumours: http://goo.gl/k9X65M 13: Landed People on the Sun Originated on the satire site Waterford Whisper News: http://goo.gl/nRqjJV I Media Ethics reported on the hoax: http://goo.gl/mLxlrk 14: Mortar execution Reported by the Telegraph: http://goo.gl/wqAG6u Reported by The Daily Mail: http://goo.gl/vWHtN0 Reported by the NY Daily News: http://goo.gl/DF1oUh Reported by the Independent: http://goo.gl/hbC6NC Reported by the Huffington Post: http://goo.gl/MFdJJA Reported by the Washington Times: http://goo.gl/QmHZe0 Not believed by Foreign Policy: http://goo.gl/oZzJaN 15: Attack on Sony for film Believed by Barack Obama: http://goo.gl/PR6rDF Obama calls for tougher sanctions on North Korea: http://goo.gl/hZH4No (the diplomat writes) “The BBC, NPR, and the Washington Post, all claimed that North Korea had threatened war against the USA, however again there is no evidence of this” : http://goo.gl/ZK3WDt 1) North Korea speaks: 2) https://goo.gl/m7OJTG 3) DPR Korea Ambassador - US nuclear war threat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3CLgEkAa-g 4) DPR Korea ambassador Q&A;: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq_kTrbtQpo

• published: 21 Feb 2016
• views: 2