You might have heard that the North Korean Government is on Twitter. (And Facebook and Youtube as well).
A tad bizarre for an organization whose chief interactions with its citizens involve spying on them and sending them to gulags.
But there are, I have learned, sound reasons behind Pyongyang’s foray into the 140 character world.
Here are 7 reasons the North Korean Government opened a Twitter account:
- Dear Leader – a.k.a. KJ the Illest – has a SEVERE case of Bieber Fever and wants to get constant updates from the 15 yr old heartthrob who is always a trending topic.
- You don’t need more than 140 characters to say “Death to the American/Japanese/South Korean Imperialists.”
- KJ the Illest got REAL jealous of all the press Hugo Chavez got when he entered the Twitterverse and so decided to ape the Venezuelan strongman.
- Running a totalitarian police state, where everyone might be plotting against you, can be exhausting. Sometimes you need mindless diversions!
- The North Korean Government runs an inept socialist economy and cannot feed its own people. Thus, it needs to follow the World Food Program (@WFPlogisitics) on Twitter to get intel on when food is coming.
- Twitter allows Dear Leader – a notorious fan of leggy blonde chicks – to follow @heidimontag ‘s every move and thought (well, what “thoughts” she has).
- The ghost of Kim Il Sung – a.k.a. the “Great Leader” – loves expressing revolutionary thought in under 140 characters, and so recommended Twitter to the current leadership.
(Unrelated – I LOVE North Korean propaganda art. It’s pretty much always waaaaay over the top – as the above piece illustrates. If you ever want to enjoy a cool, if bizarre, day in a Cold War era Disneyland-ish atmosphere, do pay a visit to the DMZ. They have TONNES of fascinating artifacts – including interesting examples of propaganda art – from the North at the museum. It ranks among my fave travel spots and is only 1 hour from Seoul – highly recommended!)