| 선전선동부 | |
 Emblem of the Workers' Party of Korea | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1945 |
| Jurisdiction | Propaganda in North Korea |
| Headquarters | Pyongyang, North Korea |
| Agency executives |
|
| Parent agency | Central Committee |
 |
|---|
 North Korea portal |
The Propaganda and Agitation Department (PAD, Korean: 선전선동부[1]),[a] officially translated as the Publicity and Information Department,[3] is a department of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) tasked with coordinating the creation and dissemination of propaganda in North Korea. It is the highest propaganda organization in the country.
The history of the department can be traced back to the Soviet Civil Administration following the division of Korea in 1945. Agitation operations by the department reached their height in the years after the Korean War.
Although nominally under the Central Committee of the WPK, the department reports directly to Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un. The department is currently under the effective guidance of its deputy department director Kim Yo-jong, sister of Kim Jong Un, while its nominal head is Ri Il-hwan. The department has various bureaus and offices under its control.
The department sets guidelines for all propaganda materials produced and all North Korean media is overseen by it. However, in order to maintain its clandestine nature, actions relating to repression of the media are nominally attributed to the Ministry of Culture. When newspapers are published in North Korea, they go through three rounds of censorship. The first is handled by the editors of the paper. The second and third levels are taken care of by the department.
The department also translates foreign works, which are censored from the public, for the use of the country's political elite.[4]
- ^ Jun, Jenny; LaFoy, Scott; Sohn, Ethan (2015). North Korea's Cyber Operations: Strategy and Responses. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 48. ISBN 978-1-4422-5903-4.
- ^ 金與正被證實隸屬朝鮮勞動黨宣傳煽動部 [Kim Yo-jong confirmed as working for the WPK PAD]. 韓聯社（南韓聯合通訊社） (in Chinese). 27 April 2018.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
38no_Nortwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Jang 2015, p. 32.
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