North Korea
Whenever I hear news that North Korea is doing their daily threat that they will burn down Seoul, or even the whole country, I sometimes get messages from my friends asking if things are going fine. For so long they have made absurd threats that nowadays us down here no longer care whatever their warnings are. However, very seldom we pay keen attention when we hear some keywords: military provocation, nuclear power, and death of the Kim family. When the rumors were spread in April 2020 that Kim Jung Un was in a critical condition, the whole world, especially SKorea, and Japan was critically concerned with the rumors. Even for me it was shocking and was searching if there were any new news on the issue. However, as I went deeper on finding what was truly going on, it just confused me deeper. In one article, the writer has quoted that Kim Jung Un was not dead in fact but was in coma, while the other has issued that Kim Jung Un was already in recovery. In such an urgent issue, there were thousands of rumors and fake news that reported on Kim’s condition and even worse, the spreader of the rumor was not a mere anonymous, but from a member of parliament. In this essay, I will compare one misinformation video and fact based new article that makes a distinct approach on the same issue.
When thousands of news and articles were spread, a YouTube channel named “stroke of genius” was also one that reported the issue. The problem was that they reported their “The number of views has been increased with provocative and attention-grabbing titles. Kim Jong Un, who was announced by the South Korean government, may have health problems, but not death, and at the same time, he makes raw criticism and explains that Kim Jong Un is dead. The reason for Kim Jong Un’s death, which is said to have been caused by an explosion during a missile test in North Korea, is believed to have died. However, it does not show any evidence and makes a ten-minute primary argument. The last two minutes slowly explain in very large letters how to search and subscribe to their YouTube channels.
Starting from the impeachment of formal Korean president “Park”, there was a grand increase in the number of extremist right wing youtubers in Korea. For instance, a YouTube channel name “stroke of genius”, a most famous rightwing youtuber, has gained 1.3million youtuber subscription within 3 years. (Media Watch) If these people were just general news reports that gave fact based news, it wouldn’t have any problems. Unfortunately, these youtubers are the host of most misinformation and disinformation spreading in Korea. Various problems have been pointed out for political extremism forces, such as continuing to distort many things based on arguments and grounds that lack reasonable logic centered on Partisanship. This barbarity has been issued even among the right wing politicians. The formal house representative of the right wing party in Korea, Kim Mu Sung has criticized their action, “What’s wrong with them? If the president’s power is wrong, we have to resist it. We didn’t betray the president. She betrayed us. They(Extremist youtubers) are just a brainwashed psychopath…They’re all trying to make money. They don’t care about political justice.”
CNN news on the other hand steps back and observes the current situation by writing the information they obtained without argument. They reported Kim Jong Un was in a critical condition and further notice in his death is not written.
I’ll write down stats that support my point that the news that Korean news produces misinformation or disinformation while news like CNN or FOX (I know that they are also biased when they talk about things related to the US) are more neutral in terms of Korean news.
The main difference between these two distinct sources of information is journalism. Not only this particular disinformation but “every” news extremist youtubers produce are provoking contents. While the original new reports take a distinct stance.
CNN and other news channels may be criticized for being based but do not bring sourceless information. But their news is never transparent in the most important part: information delivery. For example, when he reported on Kim Jong Un’s death, he explained the source of the report clearly and reported that Kim Jong Un was in critical condition without any additional information. The information builds and delivers news based on reliable information such as Daily NK, US Government, etc.
On the other hand, the biggest problem for ultra-rightist YouTubers like stroke of genius is the absence of journalism. Their goal is not to let citizens think and assert arbitrarily by delivering the right information, but to incite people with provocative narratives and unproven nonsense. stroke of genius made 12 videos of Kim Jong Un’s death and made various claims that Kim Jong Un died, but failed to provide any evidence, but repeating the claim that Kim Jong Un died and the South Korean government is hiding it. Even a flurry of provocative titles such as “US has accepted South Korea after Kim Jong Un’s death; Korean War is Imminent;” drew people’s attention. The purpose of their disinformation is because it is profitable. They are guaranteed high returns by telling the extremists what they want to hear, not by helping people while delivering information. The monthly income of stroke of genius YouTube channel is $44,567,80 and 220, the top 1 percent of revenue generated by YouTube channel, with one to two ads added to every video.(noxinfluencer) Also within their top 10 most viewed videos, 9 of them are impeachment claims that the current president should be imprisoned and the election happened this year (where democratic party had a big win) was rigged. People cried and were angry throughout the whole video that Democratic party is ruining their country but never specifically elaborates on “why” they are angry. However, this video seems to be enough for subscribers to believe the claim taken by the extremist youtubers. Comments are filled with phrasing the channel and hate speech towards their “opponent”.
- CNN
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/20/politics/kim-jong-un-north-korea/index.html
- nox influencer website (it is where u can find statistics on youtube)
https://kr.noxinfluencer.com/youtube/channel/UCgOLQwRv1r2m9mhE1tfsn3Q
- Stroke of genius( it is Korean website)
Whenever I hear news that North Korea is doing their daily threat that they will burn down Seoul, or even the whole country, I sometimes get messages from my friends asking if things are going fine. For so long they have made absurd threats that nowadays us down here no longer care whatever their warnings are. However, very seldom we pay keen attention when we hear some keywords: military provocation, nuclear power, and death of the Kim family. When the rumors were spread in April 2020 that Kim Jung Un was in a critical condition, the whole world, especially SKorea, and Japan was critically concerned with the rumors. Even for me it was shocking and was searching if there were any new news on the issue. However, as I went deeper on finding what was truly going on, it just confused me deeper. In one article, the writer has quoted that Kim Jung Un was not dead in fact but was in coma, while the other has issued that Kim Jung Un was already in recovery. In such an urgent issue, there were thousands of rumors and fake news that reported on Kim’s condition and even worse, the spreader of the rumor was not a mere anonymous, but from a member of parliament. In this essay, I will compare one misinformation video and fact based new article that makes a distinct approach on the same issue.
When thousands of news and articles were spread, a YouTube channel named “stroke of genius” was also one that reported the issue. The problem was that they reported their “The number of views has been increased with provocative and attention-grabbing titles. Kim Jong Un, who was announced by the South Korean government, may have health problems, but not death, and at the same time, he makes raw criticism and explains that Kim Jong Un is dead. The reason for Kim Jong Un’s death, which is said to have been caused by an explosion during a missile test in North Korea, is believed to have died. However, it does not show any evidence and makes a ten-minute primary argument. The last two minutes slowly explain in very large letters how to search and subscribe to their YouTube channels.
Starting from the impeachment of formal Korean president “Park”, there was a grand increase in the number of extremist right wing youtubers in Korea. For instance, a YouTube channel name “stroke of genius”, a most famous rightwing youtuber, has gained 1.3million youtuber subscription within 3 years. (Media Watch) If these people were just general news reports that gave fact based news, it wouldn’t have any problems. Unfortunately, these youtubers are the host of most misinformation and disinformation spreading in Korea. Various problems have been pointed out for political extremism forces, such as continuing to distort many things based on arguments and grounds that lack reasonable logic centered on Partisanship. This barbarity has been issued even among the right wing politicians. The formal house representative of the right wing party in Korea, Kim Mu Sung has criticized their action, “What’s wrong with them? If the president’s power is wrong, we have to resist it. We didn’t betray the president. She betrayed us. They(Extremist youtubers) are just a brainwashed psychopath…They’re all trying to make money. They don’t care about political justice.”
CNN news on the other hand steps back and observes the current situation by writing the information they obtained without argument. They reported Kim Jong Un was in a critical condition and further notice in his death is not written.
I’ll write down stats that support my point that the news that Korean news produces misinformation or disinformation while news like CNN or FOX (I know that they are also biased when they talk about things related to the US) are more neutral in terms of Korean news.
The main difference between these two distinct sources of information is journalism. Not only this particular disinformation but “every” news extremist youtubers produce are provoking contents. While the original new reports take a distinct stance.
CNN and other news channels may be criticized for being based but do not bring sourceless information. But their news is never transparent in the most important part: information delivery. For example, when he reported on Kim Jong Un’s death, he explained the source of the report clearly and reported that Kim Jong Un was in critical condition without any additional information. The information builds and delivers news based on reliable information such as Daily NK, US Government, etc.
On the other hand, the biggest problem for ultra-rightist YouTubers like stroke of genius is the absence of journalism. Their goal is not to let citizens think and assert arbitrarily by delivering the right information, but to incite people with provocative narratives and unproven nonsense. stroke of genius made 12 videos of Kim Jong Un’s death and made various claims that Kim Jong Un died, but failed to provide any evidence, but repeating the claim that Kim Jong Un died and the South Korean government is hiding it. Even a flurry of provocative titles such as “US has accepted South Korea after Kim Jong Un’s death; Korean War is Imminent;” drew people’s attention. The purpose of their disinformation is because it is profitable. They are guaranteed high returns by telling the extremists what they want to hear, not by helping people while delivering information. The monthly income of stroke of genius YouTube channel is $44,567,80 and 220, the top 1 percent of revenue generated by YouTube channel, with one to two ads added to every video.(noxinfluencer) Also within their top 10 most viewed videos, 9 of them are impeachment claims that the current president should be imprisoned and the election happened this year (where democratic party had a big win) was rigged. People cried and were angry throughout the whole video that Democratic party is ruining their country but never specifically elaborates on “why” they are angry. However, this video seems to be enough for subscribers to believe the claim taken by the extremist youtubers. Comments are filled with phrasing the channel and hate speech towards their “opponent”.
