Is North Korea ever taken seriously? : A study of the image of North Korea presented by two Swedish newspapers

North Korea has been on people’s minds lately. This essay is a study of what image Swedish press gave of North Korea starting in 1948 and ending in 2011. The study looks at two of the largest newspapers in Sweden, Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter. During the 1950´s the image given was that North Korea was part of the communists, a puppet state of the Soviet Union. This changed in the 1990´s and North Korea became a threat in its own right and nuclear bombs became a part of the North Korean image. In the 2011 the focus was no longer on atomic bombs but on the leaders. An image based on less than favorable characteristics was used to describe the North Korean political leaders. During all of this the image of North Korea as a threat has been present but changing. In the 1950´s North Korea was seen as a threat to the world by being part of the communists. Later, in 2004, the threat was no longer the communists but North Korea itself. North Korea had become a nation with nuclear bombs. In 2011 North Korea´s untrustworthy leaders had become the focus of the threat