Inside North Korea with Ishimaru Jiro

In December 2011, Kim Jong-un took over from his father as supreme leader of North Korea. More than two years into Kim Jong-un’s reign, many North Koreans still suffer severe economic privation, as well as strict social and political controls. Though North Korea remains largely closed to the international media, North Korean citizen-journalists have managed to secretly record many aspects of daily life inside the DPRK, providing some of the only uncensored images from inside the country.

Japanese journalist Ishimaru Jiro, a leading expert on North Korea, discusses the current situation inside the country, with a special focus on daily life for average North Koreans.  

Speaker

Japanese journalist Ishimaru Jiro is one of the world’s leading experts on North Korea. A veteran of more than 90 reporting trips to the China-North Korea border, Ishimaru has interviewed more than 900 North Koreans. He writes widely on North Korean affairs, and is a regular commentator on North Korea in the Japanese press. He is a member of Asia Press International, and edits Rimjin-gang: News from Inside North Korea, a journal of North Korean affairs which he founded in 2008.

In 2002, Ishimaru created the world’s first network of independent North Korean citizen-journalists, all of whom were trained by Ishimaru personally. Their reports, which cover a broad range of economic, social, and political issues, have been featured in major Japanese media outlets, and in such international media outlets as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, and the Washington Post, among many others. Video footage smuggled out of North Korea by Ishimaru’s network has aired on outlets worldwide. In 2014, Ishimaru collaborated with PBS Frontline on the documentary The Secret State of North Korea.