North Korea reported on the results of South Korea's 21st presidential election for the first time. Until now, North Korea had not covered the election phase in the media since the impeachment of former President Yoon Suk-yeol.
The Korean Central News Agency reported just two days after the presidential election on the 5th that “the presidential election took place on June 3, two months after the president was impeached due to last year's '12·3 emergency state,'” and that “Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea was elected as the 21st president.” The North Korean residents also saw the same content in the Labor Party's organ, the Rodong Sinmun, on page six.
In past presidential election processes, expressions criticizing South Korea's elections and politics have appeared in propaganda media. However, this time, it is analyzed that they refrained from mentioning it in accordance with the 'hostile relationship between the two countries' promoted by North Korea since the end of 2023.
North Korea reported on the 17th presidential election when President Lee Myung-bak was elected just a week later. In the 18th presidential election in 2012, the day after the election, it reported that “the Saenuri Party candidate was elected by a narrow margin” without mentioning President Park Geun-hye's name. In the 19th presidential election in 2017, which President Moon Jae-in won, the Choson Shinbo, the organ of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, reported the news the day after the election, and the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported the article the next day.
North Korea has been reluctant to report about the conservative faction's victories in elections. However, in the 20th presidential election in 2022, it reported that “the candidate Yoon Suk-yeol of the opposition People Power Party” was elected just two days after the election.
This time, they reported it without specifically mentioning either the progressives or conservatives, mirroring the time lag of the previous election.