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ONE INTERESTING ELEMENT of modern North Korea is the tentative steps that the country has taken to embrace the online world.

Take, for example, the flash-heavy website released earlier this year (that used a $15 (€12)  template), or the official (though curiously unverified) Twitter account.

Perhaps its unsurprising then, that the country has had its own YouTube channel since 2010, with a good number of videos posted every day.

Most videos have barely a hundred or two views, and with good reason —few people within the country actually have access to the internet.. It appears that the videos are probably aimed at the wider world.

We sat and watched a number of the videos from the last year, and the videos are united in their love of emotional voice-overs, midi-orchestras, and unusual cross fades. Vaguely, they break up into certain categories, such as news broadcasts of grandiose public performances, nationalistic songs or cartoons for kids.

Soldiers forming a kazoo army:

Lots of kids playing ping pong:

Kim Jong Un looks at fish and meat in a new supermarket:

A news report from a theme park, which seems unusually empty:

Acrobats performing to an alarming euro-dance beat:

Recipes for traditional North Korean cuisine:

(All videos via uriminzokkiri/YouTube)

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