North Korean YouTubers in the South – Part 2

Some North Korea-born YouTubers talk about why they left their homeland and the experiences they’ve had in South Korea. Some also broadcast themselves putting on North Korean-style make-up or eating foods from the country.

Kang Na-ra, a North Korean escapee who regularly appears on two YouTube channels and two TV programmes, is called “Princess Na-ra” by her fans. The 22-year-old with long, brown-dyed hair said she has a 200-member fan club that has sent her a cake topped with a mini-Kang doll on her birthday for the past three years.

When Kang, dressed in a North Korean military uniform, showed how to put on North Korean-style make-up on her YouTube channel, her subscribers wrote, “You are so pretty even without make-up” and “You’re such a beauty”.

The YouTubers, however, also have anti-fans who often vent their anger at them when Pyongyang does something provocative like conduct a weapons test. Jang said some messages have been left for him wishing for him to be assassinated with a poisoned needle or banished to a North Korean coal mine. Kang said she feels a “little sad” when she reads malicious messages from people such as “Go back to your country” and “Why does a Red live here?”.

Jang said a middle school student once asked him if North Koreans eat dirt when they’re hungry, while another escapee-turned-YouTuber, Lee Pyung, said he was asked whether North Koreans give potatoes instead of money to a driver when they take a bus.

They believe their YouTube programmes help address the widespread misinformation about North Korea in the South.

[South China Morning Post]

This entry was posted in North Korean refugee by Grant Montgomery.