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Daily NK ( Korean : 데일리NK , romanized :  Deilli NK ) is an online newspaper based in Seoul, South Korea, where it reports on various aspects of North Korean society from information obtained from inside and outside of North Korea via a network of informants . North Korea is ranked 177 out of 180 in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index , which is compiled by Reporters Without Borders .

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67-481: The organization's president and editor-in-chief are South Korean, while its journalists are a mix of South Koreans and North Korean defectors. Daily NK is a recipient of funding from multiple institutions and private donors, including the National Endowment for Democracy , an NGO funded by the U.S. Congress . Daily NK ' s president is Lee Kwang-baek. The amount of Daily NK ' s funding from

134-531: A 38 North article regarding North Korea's intensification of its "war against foreign influence." Interviews arranged by Daily NK were used in a BBC article that investigated speculation surrounding starvation deaths in North Korea in 2023. Daily NK reports are frequently cited by international media, and according to The Atlantic , agents of South Korea's National Intelligence Service have contacted Daily NK for information. The news published by

201-455: A "respected online newspaper based in Seoul." Ju Song-ha, a defector journalist at South Korea's Dong-a Ilbo, said in a Facebook post that, "There is no other [news organization] that brings news so well out of North Korea as Daily NK ." Thomas Byrne, the president of The Korea Society , has stated that "Daily NK [is] our only source on financial news, as it is, from North Korea." Anna Fiefield,

268-563: A 1991 interview in which then-NED president Allen Weinstein said, "A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA." Critics have compared the NED's funding of Nicaraguan groups (pro-U.S. and conservative unions, political parties, student groups, business groups, and women's associations) in the 1980s and 1990s in Nicaragua to the previous CIA effort "to challenge and undermine"

335-413: A discovery of new construction at a North Korean missile launching site, which the institute said was being upgraded to handle larger rockets. In January 2016, 38 North reported on North Korea's ballistic missile submarine program, using satellite imagery analysis of Sinpo South Shipyard, following the "ejection" test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile on December 21, 2015. Joseph Bermudez said

402-642: A focus on inside information and human rights issues . It publishes primarily in Korean, but also in English and Chinese. Its sources inside North Korea communicate with the main office using Chinese cell phones, while it also has several correspondents based in China who interview people coming and going across the Sino-North Korean border . It also carries stories from North Korean defectors and monitors

469-607: A former journalist at the Washington Post and the author of "The Great Successor: The Divinely Perfect Destiny of Brilliant Comrade Kim Jong Un," has commented that "... there is lots of great reporting [on North Korea by U.S. and international outlets], including in South Korea. There's an outlet called Daily NK that is doing a lot of this kind of journalism. They have citizen reporters inside North Korea or informants who can tell what's going on in there. They are providing

536-747: A left-wing government in Chile. (Latin Americanist scholar William M. LeoGrande writes that the NED's roughly $ 2 million funding into Nicaragua between 1984 and 1988 was the "main source of overt assistance to the civic opposition," of which about half went to the anti- Sandinista newspaper La Prensa . ) According to sociologist William Robinson, NED funds during the Reagan years were "ultimately used for five overlapping pseudo-covert activities: leadership training for pro-American elites, promotion of pro-American educational systems and mass media, strengthening

603-495: A lot of information about what's happening in North Korea." Peter Ward, a NK News contributor and researcher of North Korea's economy, has said that Daily NK is a "generally reliable outlet" and that the organization uses "methods that are common to all media companies who try to report from inside the country: they often have to rely on single sources and report on rumors that are circulating." He went on to say that, Daily NK "does its best to avoid single-source claims utilizing

670-464: A network of multiple informants in the country and cross-reference with other media reports and South Korean academic work" and that while "some have cast doubt on DNK's sources generally, others have said that it's only reliable as a source for information in the regions far away from Pyongyang." Ian Urbina, the director and founder of The Outlaw Ocean Project, has called Daily NK "the best investigative-news venue related to North Korea." The OECD , in

737-592: A nonprofit organization. An analysis by political scientist Sarah Bush found that while NED activity in the 1980s focused on direct challenges to autocrats by funding dissidents, opposition parties, and unions, the majority of 21st-century NED funding goes to technical programs that are less likely to challenge the status quo, with the proportion of NED funding for "relatively tame programs" increasing from roughly 20% of NED grants in 1986 to roughly 60% in 2009. Political scientist Lindsey A. O'Rourke writes that, "Today, NED programs run in more than ninety countries. Although

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804-469: A regular column to the site prior to his death in Seoul in 2010. Thae Yong-ho , a diplomat from North Korea prior to his 2016 defection, also contributed a series of columns about North Korea-South Korea relations. Andrei Lankov , a well-known Russian scholar of North Korean affairs, occasionally publishes columns through the site, mainly in Korean. Fyodor Tertitskiy , a Russian scholar of North Korean affairs, publishes mainly history-focused columns for

871-446: A report titled "North Korea: The last transition economy?," cites several Daily NK articles. The report notes that, "Although UN-related international organisations, a large number of South Korean authorities and several NGOs sometimes report statistics on North Korea, their reliability and mutual consistency is also questionable, due to restrictions on visits and lack of data sources (Table 1). While information from North Korea defectors

938-643: A rise from $ 30 million the year before) was only retained after a vigorous campaign by NED supporters. In the financial year to the end of September 2009 NED had an income of $ 135.5 million, nearly all of which came from U.S. Government agencies. In addition to government funding, the NED has received funding from foundations, such as the Smith Richardson Foundation , the John M. Olin Foundation , and others. The Bradley Foundation supported

1005-643: A small number of sources inside North Korea. While claims by such sources typically cannot be independently verified, it is reasonable to assume that if several reports point to the same phenomena, such as increased arrests for possession of foreign culture, these reports speak of a broader dynamic and not just isolated events. At the same time ... [the outlets publish articles based on] ... sources that cannot be independently verified." North Korea's National Reconciliation Council , in an official statement carried by KCNA , has criticized Daily NK for what it called "anti-DPRK smear campaigns ," and Lee Chan-ho of

1072-574: A social-democratic and liberal orientation across the world," providing training and support for pro-democracy groups that criticize the U.S. In a 2004 article for the Washington Post , Michael McFaul argues that the NED is not an instrument of U.S. foreign policy. He said he experienced the difference between the actions of US policymakers and the actions of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) while representing

1139-510: Is a quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization in the United States founded in 1983 with the stated aim of advancing democracy worldwide, by promoting political and economic institutions, such as political groups , business groups , trade unions , and free markets . The NED was created as a bipartisan , private, non-profit corporation, but acts as a grant-making foundation. It is funded primarily by an annual allocation from

1206-589: Is a website devoted to analysis about North Korea . Its name refers to the 38th parallel north which passes through the Korean peninsula and from 1945 until the start of the Korean War in 1950 divided the peninsula into North and South Korea . Formerly a program of the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University 's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies , it is now housed at

1273-927: Is allocated annually to four main U.S. organizations: the American Center for International Labor Solidarity (associated with the AFL–CIO ), the Center for International Private Enterprise (affiliated with the USCC ), the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (associated with the Democratic Party ), and the International Republican Institute (formerly known as the National Republican Institute for International Affairs and affiliated with

1340-502: Is often used to make up for data shortages, using witness accounts and interviews has pitfalls, including sample bias (Mimura, 2019), limited means of verification and inaccuracy of memories (Song and Denney, 2019). It is essential to bear these limitations in mind when interpreting the numbers quoted in this paper, which alongside official publications also draws to an unusual extent on press reports." National Endowment for Democracy The National Endowment for Democracy ( NED )

1407-517: The JoongAng Ilbo ran a story that commented, "Daily NK, a website run by North Korean defectors in the South, has put out questionable reports in the past, which mainstream media outlets in South Korea have cited, only to find out they were untrue." Many high-profile experts on North Korea follow and have even expressed praise for Daily NK ' s work, albeit sometimes with caveats regarding

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1474-518: The Journal of Democracy with $ 1.5 million during 1990–2008. In 2018, President Donald Trump proposed to slash the NED's funding and cut its links to the Democratic and Republican Institutes. The NED's Board of Directors gives an annual "Democracy Award" to recognize "individuals and organizations that have advanced the cause of human rights and democracy around the world": In 2006, CIMA

1541-513: The 2014 Hong Kong protests , a Chinese newspaper accused the US of using the NED to fund pro-democracy protesters. Michael Pillsbury , a Hudson Institute foreign policy analyst and former Reagan administration official, stated that the accusation was "not totally false". In 2019, the government of the People's Republic of China sanctioned the NED in response to the passage by the U.S. Congress of

1608-743: The AFL–CIO , $ 2.5 million for an affiliate of the National Chamber Foundation , and $ 5 million each for two party institutes, which was later eliminated by a vote of 267–136. The conference report on H.R. 2915 was adopted by the House on November 17, 1983, and the Senate the following day. On November 18, 1983, articles of incorporation were filed in the District of Columbia to establish the National Endowment for Democracy as

1675-569: The Central Intelligence Agency . Political groups, activists, academics, and some governments have accused the NED of being an instrument of U.S. foreign policy helping to foster regime change . The National Security Decision Directive 77 was instrumental for the creation of Project Democracy and its offspring NED. In a 1982 speech at the Palace of Westminster , President Ronald Reagan proposed an initiative, before

1742-832: The China Free Press NGO and in 2019 it gave about $ 643,000 to civil society programmes in Hong Kong . In response, in 2020 China imposed sanctions on NED president Carl Gershman and Michael Abramowitz, the president of Freedom House . The NED played a role in supporting the Arab Spring of 2011. For example, the April 6 Youth Movement in Egypt , the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and individual Yemeni activist Entsar Qadhi received training and finances from

1809-598: The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act . The Chinese government stated that the NED and CIA worked in tandem to covertly foment the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests , and that NED acted as a U.S. intelligence front. NED was one of several U.S.-based NGOs sanctioned by the Chinese government; others included the Human Rights Watch , Freedom House , the National Democratic Institute , and

1876-696: The International Republican Institute . China also already tightly restricted the activities of foreign NGOs in China, particularly since 2016, and the NGOs sanctioned by China typically do not have offices on the mainland; as a result, the sanctions were regarded as mostly symbolic. NED grant recipients in Hong Kong included labor advocacy and human rights groups such as the Solidarity Center and Justice Centre Hong Kong . The Chinese government said that

1943-558: The Kim family . Notably, Daily NK never claimed that Kim Jong Un had died. The surgery was labeled as fake news by Kim Yeon-chul , the Minister of Unification. During this period, the trains used by Kim Jong Un was captured multiple times in Wonsan , on the eastern coast and far from the claimed location of Mount Myohyang . NK News cited a mark on his wrist as possible evidence to support

2010-488: The Korean Peninsula and provide policymakers, practitioners and other stakeholders with data and insights that may enhance understanding one of the world's most complex security dilemmas. 38 North uses commercial satellite imagery of key areas of interest in North Korea, providing its analysts with the opportunity to uncover insight into developments within the country. In November 2013, 38 North published

2077-527: The Republican Party ). The other half of NED's funding is awarded annually to hundreds of non-governmental organizations based abroad which apply for support. In 2011, the Democratic and Republican Institutes channeled around $ 100 million through the NED. The NED receives an annual appropriation from the U.S. budget (it is included in the chapter of the Department of State budget destined for

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2144-572: The Stimson Center and is directed by Senior Fellow Jenny Town. Notable contributors include nuclear scientist Sigfried Hecker , former Associated Press Pyongyang Bureau Chief Jean H. Lee , cybersecurity expert James Andrew Lewis , and North Korea Tech founder Martyn Williams . 38 North is an authoritative source of policy and technical analysis regarding North Korea 's internal and external affairs. It aims to facilitate an informed public policy debate about peace and security on

2211-679: The U.S. Congress . In addition to its grants program, the NED also supports and houses the Journal of Democracy , the World Movement for Democracy , the International Forum for Democratic Studies , the Reagan–Fascell Fellowship Program , the Network of Democracy Research Institutes , and the Center for International Media Assistance . Upon its founding, the NED assumed several former activities of

2278-448: The 'institutions of democracy' by funding pro-American organizations in the target state, propaganda, and the development of transnational elite networks." Criticizing these activities, Robinson wrote that "U.S. policymakers claim that they are interested in process ( free and fair elections ) and not outcome (the results of these elections); in reality, the principal concern is outcome." Political scientist Lindsey A. O'Rourke writes that

2345-702: The British Parliament, "to foster the infrastructure of democracy – the system of a free press, unions, political parties, universities." This intersected with previously formulated plans by the American Political Foundation, an NGO supported by some members of the Republican and Democratic parties, together with scholars based at CSIS , to create a government-funded but privately run democracy promotion foundation to support democratic civil society groups and parties. The idea

2412-537: The Daily NK, which receives US government-sourced funding, and due to uncertainty about its accuracy and the use of anonymous sources raises questions about article verifiability. Gareth Johnson the founder of Young Pioneer Tours described the Daily NK as "notoriously unreliable" after initially reporting that Everyone in North Korea is forced to get a Kim Jong Un haircut. Hwang Jang-yop , a leading political figure in North Korea prior to his 1997 defection, contributed

2479-603: The Foreign Policy Research Institute, has said in regards to the news outlet's reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic in North Korea that, "Grassroots reporting by indispensable outlets such as Daily NK , with sources inside North Korea, have reported several instances of fever-related deaths around the country after symptoms seemingly similar to COVID-19." Barbara Demick , author of "Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea," has called Daily NK

2546-568: The NDI in Moscow during the last days of the Soviet Union: U.S. policymakers supported Mikhail Gorbachev while the NDI worked with Democratic Russia , Gorbachev's opponents. NED has said in public statements that democracy evolves "according to the needs and traditions of diverse political cultures" and does not necessitate an American-style model. In 1986, NED's President Carl Gershman said that

2613-623: The NED as hostile to their country. In 2015, the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti blamed NED grants for the Euromaidan mass protests that forced Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych from power. In July 2015, the Russian government declared NED to be an "undesirable" NGO, making the NED the first organization banned under the Russian undesirable organizations law signed two months earlier by Russian President Vladimir Putin . During

2680-643: The NED provided around $ 20,000 in support of activists involved with Ardito Barletta 's campaign. Since 2004, NED has granted US$ 8,758,300 to Uyghur groups including the World Uyghur Congress , the Uyghur Human Rights Project , the Campaign for Uyghurs and The Uyghur Transitional Justice Database Project . It has also provided extensive grants for programs pertaining to Tibet. Between 2005 and 2012 it gave grants to

2747-491: The NED was created because "It would be terrible for democratic groups around the world to be seen as subsidized by the CIA. We saw that in the 1960s and that's why it has been discontinued". Throughout the course of a 2010 investigation by ProPublica , Paul Steiger, the then editor in chief of the publication said that "those who spearheaded creation of NED have long acknowledged it was part of an effort to move from covert to overt efforts to foster democracy" and cited as evidence

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2814-452: The NED. In Egypt, between 2008 and 2012, it also supported Colonel Omar Afifi Soliman, an exiled police officer who opposed both Hosni Mubarak 's and Mohamed Morsi 's presidencies, as well as secularist activist Esraa Abdel-Fatah 's Egyptian Democratic Academy in 2011. NED is a grant-making foundation, distributing funds to private non-governmental organizations for promoting democracy abroad in around 90 countries. Half of NED's funding

2881-609: The National Endowment for Democracy since 2016 is available in the public sphere. The organization is part of a consortium with the Unification Media Group, which is a South Korea–based non-profit organization that produces and delivers radio content into North Korea via short-wave radio broadcasts. Founded in December 2004 by South Korean Han Ki Hong and the Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights , Daily NK covers stories pertaining to North Korea, with

2948-688: The Philippines, Ukraine to Haiti, overturning unfriendly 'authoritarian' governments (many of which the United States had previously supported) and replacing them with handpicked pro-market allies." In the 2020 Thai protests , pro-government groups cited NED support for protester-sympathizing groups to assert that the US government was masterminding the protests. The United States Embassy in Bangkok formally denied allegations of funding or supporting protesters. In August 2021, Malaysian human rights activist and Suaram adviser Kua Kia Soong criticized

3015-634: The Reagan-era NED played a key role in U.S. efforts "to promote democratic transitions in Chile, Haiti, Liberia, Nicaragua, Panama, the Philippines, Poland, and Suriname," but did so to promote the success of pro-U.S. parties, not just to promote democracy, and did not support communist or socialist opposition parties. The North American Congress on Latin America says that the NED engages in a "a very particular form of low-intensity democracy chained to pro-market economics--in countries from Nicaragua to

3082-539: The South Korean Ministry of Unification warned in 2010 that the "flood of raw, unconfirmed reports" from organizations including Daily NK "complicates efforts to understand the North." Sewoong Koo, the founder of Korea Expose, has written that "Daily NK often relies on anonymous informers in the North to run critical articles about the regime, and its track record on accuracy is spotty at best." Meanwhile,

3149-580: The U.S. Agency for International Development-USAID) and is subject to congressional oversight even as a non-governmental organization. From 1984 to 1990 the NED received $ 15–18 million of congressional funding annually, and $ 25–30 million from 1991 to 1993. At the time the funding came via the United States Information Agency . In 1993 the NED nearly lost its congressional funding, after the House of Representatives initially voted to abolish its funding. The funding (of $ 35 million,

3216-699: The U.S. government and subject to congressional oversight. In 1983, the House Foreign Affairs Committee proposed legislation to provide initial funding of $ 31.3 million for NED as part of the State Department Authorization Act (H.R. 2915), because NED was in its beginning stages of development the appropriation was set at $ 18 million. Included in the legislation was $ 13.8 million for the Free Trade Union Institute , an affiliate of

3283-555: The World , in 2008, and subsequently issued other reports, including a report on digital media in conflict-prone societies and a report on mobile phone use in Africa. Writing in Slate in 2004, Brendan I. Koerner wrote that, "Depending on whom you ask, the NED is either a nonprofit champion of liberty or an ideologically driven meddler in world affairs." NED has been criticized by both

3350-555: The article was published, North Korea conducted its launch of the Unha-4 carrying the Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite at Sohae. In April 2016, 38 North analysts reported on exhaust plumes from a steam plant at Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center used to heat the main plant, a possible indicator that reprocessing additional plutonium could be underway. In mid-April, 38 North reported on activity indicating North Korea

3417-501: The attack to a North Korean group, but did not elaborate on their claims. In a later statement, Daily NK claimed that it had discovered the breach in 2020, but deliberately chose not to inform users, and also claimed that the breach affected only staff members. Daily NK was the first news organization to obtain and published excerpts from explanatory materials regarding North Korea's "anti-reactionary thought law," which went into effect in late 2021. The explanatory materials were used in

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3484-446: The heads of four other U.S.-based democracy and human rights organizations and six U.S. Republican lawmakers for supporting the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement in the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests. The unspecified sanctions were a tit-for-tat measure responding to the earlier sanctioning by the U.S. of 11 Hong Kong officials in response to the enactment of the Hong Kong National Security Law in June 2020. In December 2020 China sanctioned

3551-500: The idea from Reagan Administration hard-liners, the U.S. government, through USAID (United States Agency for International Development), contracted The American Political Foundation to study democracy promotion, which became known as "The Democracy Program". The Program recommended the creation of a bipartisan, private, non-profit corporation to be known as the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). NED, though non-governmental, would be funded primarily through annual appropriations from

3618-446: The imagery was indicative of North Korea's active pursuit of its SLBM program, a prediction that was later supported by four SLBM tests throughout the year on March 16, April 23, July 9, and August 24. Later in January 2016, 38 North reported suspicious activity at North Korea's Sohae Satellite Launching Station . Satellite imagery analysis by Jack Liu showed low-level activity at key facilities and sites at Sohae . Ten days after

3685-409: The media outlet's sourcing. Joshua H. Pollack, a senior research associate at the Middlebury Institute, has said on Twitter that Daily NK 's reporting is based on "opaque sourcing" but "they have a pretty good track record." Bill Brown, adjunct professor at Georgetown University, calls Daily NK his "favorite source of news from North Korea." Meanwhile, Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein, associate scholar at

3752-418: The number of US-backed democracy promotion programs have grown, most of today's programs pursue less aggressive objectives than their Cold War counterparts." In a 1991 interview with the Washington Post , NED founder Allen Weinstein said: "A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA." During the 1984 Panamanian general election the American Institute for Free Labor Development and

3819-482: The opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan for accepting funding from the National Endowment of Democracy, which he described as a "CIA soft power front". Citing the US track record of supporting regime change abroad and racial discrimination against Black and Asian Americans , Kua urged Malaysian civil society organizations to stop accepting funding from the NED since it undermined their legitimacy, independence, and effectiveness. Kua's statement came after Daniel Twining,

3886-456: The organization is largely based on anonymous sources and sometimes contradicts other news outlets, such as Daily NK reporting that the government was instructing residents to be prepared for longer border lockdowns, while Yonhap reported that borders were in the 'final stage' towards reopening. As Benjamin Siberstein of the Foreign Policy Research Institute has cautioned, " Daily NK and Radio Free Asia   ... often publish stories based on

3953-432: The output of the North Korean media . The organization is well known for publishing prices of commodities in North Korea - information deemed sensitive by the North Korean government - around once every two weeks. The organization has a content sharing arrangement with The Diplomat , and has partnered up with the Transitional Justice Working Group. It also has a relationship with Factiva . There have been suspicions of

4020-435: The president of the NED affiliate International Republican Institute , had made remarks in 2018 acknowledging that the NED had financially supported Malaysian opposition parties since 2002. Following the 2018 Malaysian general election Twining had also praised the newly elected Pakatan Harapan government for freezing Chinese infrastructural investments. Russian government officials and state media have frequently regarded

4087-413: The right and the left. Some on the right accuse the NED of having a pro-social democracy agenda, promoted through its labor affiliate; conversely, some on the left accuse the NED of being "a rightwing initiative" oriented toward Reagan's Cold War politics. Within Latin America, critics accuse the NED of manifesting U.S. paternalism or imperialism, conversely, "supporters say that it helps many groups with

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4154-453: The sanctioned organizations were "anti-China" forces that "incite separatist activities for Hong Kong independence"; a U.S. State Department official said that "false accusations of foreign interference" against U.S.-based NGOs were "intended to distract from the legitimate concerns of Hongkongers." NED has denied it provided aid to protestors in 2019. In August 2020, the Chinese government sanctioned NED chairman Carl Gershman, together with

4221-534: The senior director of the NED, John Knaus, saying he "blatantly interferes in Hong Kong affairs and grossly interferes in China's domestic affairs". In May 2022, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused NED of funding separatists to undermine the stability of target countries, instigating color revolutions to subvert state power, and meddling in other countries' politics. Other governments that have objected to NED activity include Iran , Egypt , India , and Venezuela . 38 North 38 North

4288-467: The theory that the North Korean leader underwent a medical procedure. NK News also reported in 2021 that Daily NK ' s website had been hacked for at least from March to June, and that readers of the website were not notified of it. The website was allegedly poorly protected, and an exploit in Microsoft Edge was used to deliver the malware, which would take screenshots and steal personal information, such as passwords. A security research group linked

4355-416: The website in Korean, which are occasionally translated into English. Bruce Songhak Chung, the head of the Satellite Analysis Center at the Korea Institute for Security Strategy, writes regular columns for the publication based on satellite imagery analysis. In 2020, Daily NK claimed that Kim Jong Un had undergone cardiovascular surgery at 'Hyangsan Hospital', which it claims to be a hospital built for

4422-469: Was founded as an initiative of the National Endowment for Democracy with encouragement from Congress and a grant from the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. CIMA promotes the work of independent media and journalists abroad, with a focus on the developing world, social media , digital media , and citizen journalism . It issued its first report, Empowering Independent Media: U.S. Efforts to Foster Free and Independent Media Around

4489-450: Was strongly championed by the State Department, which argued that a non-governmental foundation would be able to support dissident groups and organizations in the Soviet Bloc, and also foster the emergence of democratic movements in US-allied dictatorships that were becoming unstable and in danger of experiencing leftist or radical revolutions, without provoking a diplomatic backlash against the US government. After some initial uncertainty over

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