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We are sometimes puzzled why North Korea grants access to foreign journalists, only to have them do what any self-respecting journalist would do: report what they see. This includes both the restraints on production in North Korea, the bizarre--and similarly constrained--responses of North Koreans to questions, and the necessity of reaching beyond North Korean footage by turning to talking heads and refugees who have quite different story lines to relate.
All of these things are on display with a new production by al-Jazeera America to be aired tomorrow at 9PM Eastern/6 Pacific. The half-hour production is in al-Jazeera’s award-winning Fault Line series; you can find where you can view it here.
The production team led by Teresa Bo was allowed into the country in September of last year. No big surprises, but in addition to some footage of the scale of logistics supporting the Pyongyang consumer market, we caught one confirmation that the byungjin line is alive and well. Bo and her team interviewed a Lieutenant Colonel who notes that “we will only give up our nuclear weapons when the countries that threaten us give up their nuclear weapons.” Assuming that includes the US, so much for a return to the Six Party Talks.
