An Investigation into the Perception of Climate Change as Understood by a Review of North Korean Newspapers and Conversations with North Koreans: An Autoethnography

Abstract

North Korea is currently suffering from food shortages and malnutrition, and climate change is expected to exacerbate the situation. Thus, my initial intention was to understand North Korean’s perceptions of climate change in relation to food production. However, due to numerous obstacles I faced, the aim of this research paper changed to finding North Korean government’s and North Korean defectors’ (1) knowledge of climate change, (2) awareness of climate change occurring in North Korea, and (3) impact of climate change on North Korea.
The primary data consisted of conversations with four North Koreans residing in South Korea. The secondary data was 150 articles published between 2013 to 2023 from the official newspaper issued by the Korean Workers’ Party, the Rodong Sinmun. The conversations were assumed to reflect the opinions of North Koreans, and the newspaper articles were considered views from the North Korean government. The findings are the following. First, the North Korean government, as well as the citizens of North Korea, have knowledge regarding climate change. Second, the North Korean government mostly remains silent on its awareness of climate change occurring in North Korea, other than a few exceptions around 2015 and 2016, when they became signatories to the Paris Agreement. North Koreans are aware of climate change reaching its nation by noticing differences in temperature. Third, the North Korean government does not acknowledge that North Korea is being impacted by climate change, other than four articles which briefly imply the ramifications of climate change. These were a rare anomaly out of the 150 articles reviewed. North Koreans, however, attest to the positive and negative impacts that climate change is having on North Korea. As a South Korean researcher, I embraced reflexivity and chose to adopt an autoethnographic approach. Thus, in addition to the findings, the discussion section incorporates personal overcoming of indifference and desensitization to North Korea.