SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – South Korea announced Friday it will reclassify North Korea’s long-banned state newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, as general information material, allowing broader public access in a significant thaw under dovish President Lee Jae Myung’s administration.
The move challenges decades-old national security restrictions on Pyongyang’s propaganda, which remains officially at war with the South. Critics, including Lee, argue South Koreans, living in one of the world’s most wired and educated democracies, are mature enough to discern the material’s leadership idolatry without state censorship.
An inter-agency meeting on December 26 confirmed consensus, with the government stating the reclassification from “special material” to “general material” will take effect early next week via administrative procedures. This follows the unification ministry’s pledge last week to relax access to select North Korean content.
President Lee dismissed fears of ideological contagion, quipping that such worries about citizens “falling for the propaganda and becoming commies” are overblown. “Rather, (granting access) will be an opportunity to understand the reality of North Korea accurately and think, ‘That shouldn’t be happening,’” he said.
The overture builds on Lee’s December call for an apology to Pyongyang over his predecessor’s alleged drone and leaflet incursions across the border. North Korea has yet to respond as Seoul seeks to rebuild fractured inter-Korean ties.