Some observers hope foreign humanitarian aid might undermine the DPRK’s legitimizing ideology. Ho... more Some observers hope foreign humanitarian aid might undermine the DPRK’s legitimizing ideology. However, a detailed analysis of two official DPRK media outlets shows that the authorities have put in place a sophisticated strategy of damage control through their propaganda apparatus in order to justify the distribution of assistance by supposedly hostile countries. This official discourse describes food problems as a capitalist plot and Western aid as a neocolonialist tool serving a variety of sinister purposes. These efforts became more conspicuous as the information blockade began to disintegrate. As a result of this surprisingly elaborate response, the majority of North Koreans are primed and given a lens through which to interpret contact with foreign aid workers and the receipt of international aid, thereby partially negating its capacity to undermine the official doctrine. Therefore, aid should be distributed on purely humanitarian grounds, with no misguided hopes of automatically winning hearts and minds.
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Papers by Matthew Pullen