NK defectors to lauch newspaper in London

07

Dec

The first nonofficial North Korean newspaper is to come out in London in two weeks.

The new free newspaper titled FreeNK will be published weekly in both Korean and English, according to its publisher, the London-based North Korean Residents Society (NKRS).

The editor of the FreeNK Kim Song-ju said the Korean version will be distributed among North Korean defectors’ community worldwide while the English version will mainly be sent to British and European politicians and human right campaigners.

Kim Song-ju said the main content of the newspaper will be the press coverage of North Korea from international media and the country’s latest news from their own source in North Korea.

NKRS director Kim Joo-il said the FreeNK would be the first newspaper published by North Korean defectors.

“We hope the newspaper will raise people’s awareness of the current situation in the country and provide North Korean defector community with a platform to communicate,” Kim Joo-il said.

A special A4 size Korean version will be sent back to North Korea via brokers in China. Kim Joo-il hoped the newspaper would promote gradual political changes in North Korea.

Though the newspaper’s content will be the same as their website which was set up a few years ago, the editor Kim Song-ju said the newspaper would play a more important role as common people in North Korea could not access Internet.

“People in North Korea don’t know what the outside world looks like and they don’t know the wrongdoings of Kim Jong-il. If they have enough information, their minds will change and then they will not follow Kim,” Kim Song-ju added.

The UK has become the hub of North Korean campaigners in Europe. Some 581 North Korean defectors have been given asylum in the UK, according to UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ statics.

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