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Channel Un
If North Korea had its own version of Netflix, what would it look like? The answer is Manbang, the new video streaming service unveiled recently by the renegade Communist nation. Instead of hit shows and movies, Manbang streams propaganda, such as sanitized reports on dictator Kim Jong Un’s activities, and other government-approved fare, including Russian sitcoms. (Russia and North Korea recently strengthened ties.) North Korean official Ju Dae-hyun, speaking on state TV, said Manbang has been “elevating the people’s cultural life a step up by allowing them to watch what they want any time they want.” One of the most repressive and isolated countries in the world, North Korea heavily censors what its citizens see, and most of its 25 million people have no internet access. But illegal foreign media smuggled in from China, including American and South Korean movies and music, are popular on North Korea’s black markets. That’s probably why the country is providing its own version of must-see TV.