WNAM REPORT: North Korea has not reported on last week’s martial law declaration in South Korea or its fallout in the following week through Tuesday, including the opposition’s push to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol.
North Korea’s key news media, including the Rodong Sinmun and the Korean Central News Agency, have not carried any stories related to the martial law turmoil as of Tuesday morning.
The Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper targeting domestic audience, had been publishing articles critical of Yoon, such as those on anti-government rallies in South Korea, on a daily basis in recent weeks.
But it stopped carrying even such reports since Thursday, after Yoon declared martial law in a surprise announcement on the night of last Tuesday. Yoon lifted the decree after the National Assembly voted to reject it.
The National Assembly voted on an impeachment motion against Yoon on Saturday amid mass rallies nationwide demanding his ouster, but the motion was dismissed due to a lack of quorum.
It strikes a stark contrast to when South Korea was in the process of impeaching then South Korean President Park Geun-hye in 2016.
At that time, the Rodong Sinmun and the Korean Central Television had frequently published reports against Park since the onset of the power abuse scandal surrounding her, covering in detail related news stories in South Korea and large-scaled candlelit rallies calling for her ouster.
Experts believe that North Korea’s silence may be aimed at avoiding unnecessary provocations against South Korea at a critical moment, in order to avert any emergency situation with Seoul.
Also behind the inaction could be North Korea’s potential concerns over the social impact that news on South Korea’s declaration of martial law and the parliament’s rejection of it could have on public opinion in North Korea.
“Withholding news reports on the martial law and the push for impeachment aims to block any negative impact on the internal system of the regime,” Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies, said.
