Will US move to crush North Korean propaganda empower citizens or cause more suffering?

The United States’ decision to earmark US$50 million to get outside information into North Korea over the next five years will help counter the continued crackdown on information in a country where information is suppressed, analysts said.

In late December, US President Joe Biden signed the Otto Warmbier Countering North Korean Censorship and Surveillance Act into law as part of an annual defence spending package.

The Act is named after an American university student who had been imprisoned by North Korea on a charge of subversion and died in 2017 after more than a year in custody.

The legislation is aimed at countering North Korea’s surveillance and censorship by increasing radio broadcasts into and facilitating internet freedom in North Korea. The funds will be appropriated to the US Agency for Global Media, an independent agency considered an arm of American diplomacy that broadcasts news and information around the world “in support of freedom and democracy.”