KCNA Watch, originally conceived and developed by Frank Feinstein, is a simple interface for accessing and searching official North Korean media output in one convenient place.

Because North Korea’s official news websites regularly go offline – either due to being attacked by hackers or because of low quality DPRK IT infrastructure – they are normally unreliable for research use.

Furthermore, there are often security risks in browsing DPRK websites: in 2015 it emerged that the official KCNA website was distributing malware to readers, while in October 2019 the Arirang Maeri website was found to distribute malicious scripts leveraging a Chrome O-day vulnerability.

In addition, official DPRK websites have poor or non-existent search functionality, making them extremely cumbersome to find relevant archive material.

Most importantly, since the purge of Jang Song Thaek in 2013, DPRK propagandists have also been deleting or revising their own material at unprecedented levels, meaning no open-source records exist of previous DPRK propaganda output.

KCNA Watch solves all three of these problems, providing users with the largest and safest universally searchable open-source directory of DPRK propaganda material in the world.

Access to articles, magazines, PDFs, live TV and recorded video clips is always 100% free at KCNA Watch. Use of advanced search and data generation tools requires an NK Pro membership, however.

For more information, see the terms and conditions.