What North Koreans want to know most: How does the world see us?

What North Koreans Want to Know Most: How Does the World See Us? by Hyunseung Lee in UPI’s Korea Regional Review explains that North Koreans who seek outside information face a personal crisis because the regime has built “an alternate reality” that shapes identity, loyalty, and meaning.

For more than 70 years, the North Korean regime has constructed an alternate reality for its 25 million citizens…a reality so complete that most have no idea how drastically it differs from the world’s perception of their country.

Hyunseung Lee recalls the moment he secretly searched the internet for information about North Korea after reaching China. The results “shattered everything I [Lee] had ever believed,” because they contradicted what the state taught about the regime’s leadership, national strength, and the causes of hardship. He explains that the state not only restricts media access but also actively constructs ignorance through propaganda radio, state-led television, surveillance, and harsh punishment, because “information poses a more lethal threat” than external force.

What drives people to take such risks isn’t simple curiosity. It’s a deep, desperate need to verify whether the life they’ve lived is built on truth or lies…What the regime fears most isn’t military invasion but ‘collective enlightenment’…the day when enough North Koreans learn their country’s true standing in the world and the international assessment of their leaders.

The article shows how overseas media and smuggled information create cracks in the facade as people pursue verification and return to the same gut-level questions about respect, isolation, prosperity, and whether they “wasted our lives serving a lie.” Lee argues that the regime fears “collective enlightenment” because truth can reorganize fear into shared understanding and political risk.

Lee’s writing also reflects the Korea Regional Review’s mission to provide accessible analysis on Korea and amplify escapee testimony for overseas audiences, an effort led at UPI by Executive Director David Maxwell, a retired U.S. Army Special Forces Colonel who focuses on Korea and Northeast Asian security and unconventional warfare. Dave is the Editor-at-Large of Small Wars Journal.

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