Learning Horseback Riding and Carrying Luxury Bags... Female YouTuber Yumi Keeps Appearing Despite Being Blocked

YouTube Closure of 'Yumi' Channel, Activity Resumes
Expert: "It Means the Propaganda Effect Is That Significant"

North Korean YouTuber ‘Yumi’ is reported to have resumed activities despite Google shutting down her channel.

In June of last year, Google deleted three YouTube channels, including ‘Song-a’ and ‘Yumi’, which had been promoting the North Korean regime. At the time, a YouTube spokesperson told Radio Free Asia (RFA), “After review, the three channels were removed in accordance with relevant policies.”

However, Yumi, who runs the ‘Olivia Natasha’ channel, was confirmed on the 10th to have created a new account on July 17 of last year and has been uploading videos introducing her daily life in English.

The channels, including Yumi’s, that YouTube shut down last year have been criticized for containing content far removed from the actual lives of North Korean residents.

North Korean YouTuber 'Yumi' exercising at a fitness gym [Image source=YouTube video capture]

Recent videos uploaded by Yumi show her enjoying an upper-class lifestyle that most North Korean residents would rarely experience, such as having meals with king crab with her family, learning horseback riding, ballet, and yoga, and carrying luxury handbags.

In the case of Song-a, the videos feature fluent British English, and she even named the famous British author J.K. Rowling’s novel ‘Harry Potter’ as her favorite book.

Moreover, operating a YouTube channel featuring free filming in Pyongyang, where internet access is impossible, inevitably requires strict surveillance and control by North Korean authorities. For this reason, experts believe these channels are regime propaganda campaigns devised under the leadership of North Korea’s high-ranking officials.

The fact that the channels are deleted and then revived is analyzed as evidence of their propaganda effectiveness. Lee Ji-soon, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said, “It appears that North Korea aims to promote its national brand on global platforms while also stimulating Western tourism demand from those who want to visit North Korea.”

Before YouTube shut down these channels, the National Intelligence Service had already requested the Korea Communications Commission to block access, calling them “part of North Korea’s psychological warfare against South Korea.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.