Every time Pyongyang has to deliver a major announcement, a woman—mostly in pink—reads out the message. She has laughed, cried and even shouted on Korean Central Television for over forty years. On Sunday, Ri Chun-Hee returned to the airwaves to declare North Korea tested a hydrogen bomb
Face of Pyongyang
In front of a backdrop of Mt Paektu, the dormant volcano on the Chinese border that is the fount of Korean nationhood, she trembled with excitement, smiling broadly as she pronounced the test’s “perfect success”. She was wearing a traditional dress known as choson chogori in the North, adorned with a badge of Kim Il-Sung and his son and successor Kim Jong-Il
Anchor who majored in drama
Ri, who is in her seventies, is thought to be wanted by Kim Jong-un himself to deliver his party’s messages to the world. She majored in drama and had previously told her loyal viewers of the deaths of the country’s founder Kim Il-Sung and his son Kim Jong-Il
Brian Myers, who analysed North Korean propaganda at Dongseo University in Busan spoke about Ri to Jason Strother of PRI’s The World, a US public radio news magazine, in 2009
Ri’s beat is the Dear Leader Kim Jong Il … Analysts say landing a news anchor job in North Korea isn’t easy. You have to demonstrate ideological credentials and come from a trustworthy family just to get into journalism school. Myers … says news anchors use four distinct tones depending on what they’re talking about. For instance, there’s the lofty, wavering voice, used when praising the nation’s leadership. That’s Ri Chun-Hee’s forte Jason Strother in PRI’s The World