US investing millions to expose North Korean regime to its citizens via 'internet freedom'

In its effort to "improve the reputation" of the Americans and South Koreans, and "expose" the North Korean regime, the United States is investing an estimated $50 million (€46 million) over the next five years under its annual defense spending package. Biden signed the Otto Warmbier Countering North Korea Censorship and Surveillance Act in the FY2023 NDAA, marking an important step to reaffirm the United States' commitment to combat North Korea’s human rights violations against its own people by exposing the citizens it detained arbitrarily. The law also plans to counter North Korean surveillance, censorship, and repression.

“I am glad to see this legislation pass as part of the NDAA to honor Otto’s memory and reaffirm our pursuit of accountability and justice for all of those who have suffered under Kim Jung Un’s violent reign," Senator Coons, co-chair of the Senate Human Rights Caucus had noted in a statement released on his official site. 

Law passed afer name of US student

The law was passed by Washington after the name of the US student who was arrested in Pyongyang in 2016 on a charge of subversion. The American student was sentenced to 15 years in prison for stealing a poster and later died in captivity. “The inhumane treatment of Otto Warmbier by North Korean authorities that ended in his death was a tragic reminder of Kim Jong Un’s brutal regime,” said Senator Brown at the time.  22-year-old Warmbier was released in June 2017 in a vegetative state and died in a hospital in Ohio six days later. The North Korean law would hold North Korea's brutal regime "responsible" for the death of the American unjust death, and a myriad of other human rights abuses. 

To implement the act, funds will be approved by the US Agency for Global Media in order to facilitate internet freedom and radio programming, according to the Congressional Budget Office. It would also authorize the Biden administration to impose sanctions on foreign persons responsible for North Korea’s censorship and surveillance activities. "The bill also authorizes the US Agency for Global Media to provide increased broadcasting and grants for various purposes, including the development of internet freedom tools to facilitate information sharing related to North Korea and the restoration of the agency's broadcasting capacity to North Korea," the US Congress noted.