Adam Taylor, Business Insider July 10, 2012 15:07

North Korea has a YouTube channel?

North Korea uploads videos to YouTube to give the rest of the world a sense of what goes on inside.

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In this photo released by Korean Central News Agency via Korean News Service, North Korean youths and students dance to celebrate Kim Jong-Il. The videos and images that leave North Korea are carefully monitored by the government. (Korean News Service /Getty Images)

What do you think?

One interesting element of modern North Korea is the tentative steps that the country has taken to embrace the online world. Take, for example, the flash-heavy website released earlier this year (that used a $15 template), or the official (though curiously unverified) Twitter account.

Perhaps its unsurprising then, that the country has had its own YouTube channel since 2010, with a good number of videos posted every day.

Most videos have barely a hundred or two views, and with good reason — few people within the country actually have access to the internet (and the government has good reason to suppress it). It appears that the videos are probably aimed at the wider world.

We sat and watched a number of the videos from the last year, and the videos are united in their love of emotional voice-overs, midi-orchestras, and unusual cross fades. Vaguely, they break up into certain categories, such as news broadcasts of grandiose public performances, nationalistic songs or cartoons for kids.

A news report from a theme park, which seems unusually empty.

Soldiers forming a kazoo army.

A news report from a bowling alley, also strangely empty.

Kim Jong Un looks at fish and meat in a new supermarket.

An English-language report on South Korea importing American beef, titled (in English) "Homologous Rascals".

Acrobats performing to an alarming euro-dance beat.

Recipes for traditional North Korean cuisine.

Lots of kids playing ping pong.

A news report about a North Korean sneaker factory.

A 40-minute long synchronized swimming video.

A video showing lots of tasty looking fresh produce in more empty stores.

A cartoon for kids about ants.

An anti-South video that features an unusual amount of Donald Duck.

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Original Source URL:

http://www.businessinsider.com/north-koreas-official-youtube-channel-the-13-strangest-videos-2012-7?op=1

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/business/120710/north-korea-youtube-channel

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