A strange controversy has been bubbling in the world of travel YouTube. A popular vlogger has been forced to deny being paid by the North Korean government to make feel-good travel videos from the DPRK.
You read that correctly.
This entire trip had been about trying to connect with people & show love https://t.co/V6Xuq3LMuJ
— Louis Cole (@funforlouis) August 16, 2016
Louis Cole is a popular vlogger who travels around the world, making daily videos. His adventures on his channel FunForLouis have netted him more than 1.8 million subscribers.
His most recent trip was a 10-day stint in North Korea with an organisation which runs surfing and skateboarding lessons for local tour guides and children. Over the course of the seven videos he’s released so far, he travels from Beijing to Pyongang, visits some of the city’s most famous landmarks and catches some waves.
They seem like your usual travel videos. Except this is North Korea, a country with well-catalogued reports of systematic human rights abuses against its own citizens. A UN inquiry concluded these abuses resembled those of the Nazis.
Cole was criticised, first in the YouTube comments and then on Twitter, for not speaking about the realities of North Korea.
Then, he was accused of carrying out propaganda for the DPRK’s government, and possibly being paid for it.
In a video released on Wednesday night, Cole categorically denied this. He says: “I know that makes good headlines but there’s no truth in it whatsoever.
“I’m not being paid by the North Korean government.
“I do not agree with the North Korean ideologies but I do care for and love the people there.”
He defended his videos, saying he could only show what he as a tourist had experienced there, adding that he didn’t want to jeopardise the work of the organisation who took him there for a surf school.
“I’m looking for the beautiful, positive things. I want to connect with local people, learn about the culture and the country,” he said.
Did you know North Korea have amazing water parks? https://t.co/9uGMkl2eQf
— Louis Cole (@funforlouis) August 11, 2016
“I’m not a investigative journalist, I don’t do political commentary. There are other places on the internet that you can go to find those kind of things.”
Cole didn’t want to be interviewed for this piece, but his team sent a statement. It said:
Louis saw this as a unique opportunity to be immersed in the culture. His goal was to help, and to connect with, local North Koreans in a meaningful way. With this in mind, it was Louis’ desire and intention that his videos honour the excellent community work done by the organisation and its volunteers. It was not his intention to gloss over or dismiss any negative issues that plague the country, and he apologises if his vlogs came across that way. Again, that was not the intention.
It goes without saying: being a tourist in North Korea is not like being a tourist elsewhere. The notoriously secretive state controls everything about what you see and do – including what you photograph or video.
Other tourists have reported having their footage and photos checked by authorities as they leave the country.
Jacob Laukaitis recently made a YouTube video about his seven-day trip to North Korea. Describing himself as a digital nomad, his YouTube channel of his travels to more than 50 countries over the last three years has more than 10,000 subscribers.
His video opens with a disclaimer. “You can never be sure whether things were staged or not in North Korea because you are only shown what they want you to see.”
He told the Guardian his trip was booked through an agency, who were informed he wanted to make a video from the trip. They made sure he wasn’t a journalist, but beyond that they were fine with him making a video. “After all, hundreds of people have published some footage from their travels in North Korea.”
But, like Cole, he could only really tell the story of what he was shown. “The way I look at it is everything you say or do that’s related to North Korea is going to be very sensitive for obvious reasons,” he said.
“I’ve been reading and watching documentaries about the country for years and in no way do I support their actions, laws and regulations. And that is why I wanted to make sure people do not think I do.
“At the same time I thought many things have been said regarding the politics of North Korea and thus I didn’t want to make a video on that.
“What seemed to be useful is to show people what tourists’ daily lives look like once they are in North Korea and make them judge for themselves whether things were staged or not, honest or not, good or not.
“And that’s what I did.”
Cole, meanwhile, has another three videos to release from his North Korea trip. Whether this controversy affects those videos at all remains to be seen.