North Koreans Are Risking Their Lives To Leak News To This Website (HBO)

Kim Jong Un plans to shut down North Korea’s nuclear testing site, and he will reportedly let foreign inspectors and journalists into the top-secret facility to prove that he means business. That news follows another wild week on the Korean Peninsula, which culminated with Kim’s historic trip across the DMZ to meet with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. But while the rest of the media focused on the summit, part of which unfolded on live television, one group of editors and reporters was busy getting rare bits of information out of the Hermit Kingdom. Founded in 2005, the website Daily NK publishes articles on everything from fluctuating gas prices in North Korea to police crackdowns and executions. Daily NK’s team, which includes several North Korean defectors, uses secure messaging apps to communicate with network of informants in North Korea and China, allowing them to land exclusive scoops about what’s really happening inside the reclusive regime. And because Daily NK pays some sources in the North and receives funding from the South Korea's Ministry of Unification — along with private donations and money from the U.S.-backed National Endowment for Democracy — the organization tends to blur the line between activism and journalism. VICE News visited the site’s headquarters in Seoul on the eve of the inter-Korean summit to see how they report on the world’s most secretive country and ask why they’ve recently started broadcasting information back into North Korea. Subscribe to VICE News here: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE-News Check out VICE News for more: http://vicenews.com Follow VICE News here: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vicenews Twitter: https://twitter.com/vicenews Tumblr: http://vicenews.tumblr.com/ Instagram: http://instagram.com/vicenews More videos from the VICE network: https://www.fb.com/vicevideo