Judging by the Korean Central News Agency's website, almost no news occurred prior to Oct. 1, 2013.
The North Korean state-run news organization has deleted 95% of its digital archive, including all but seven of its articles that predate Oct. 1. The purge comes just days after KCNA announced the execution of Jang Song Thaek, Kim Jong Un's uncle, believed to be the second-most powerful man in the country.
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More than 35,000 articles from September and earlier have suddenly gone missing, according to NK News, a privately-owned site based in Washington, D.C.
A screenshot of the site capture by the Internet Archive shows more than 20,000 articles listed in March — 2,006 pages with 10 article listings per page. Only 1,884 articles remained on Monday morning.
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The purge is by no means the first Orwellian move by KCNA. The organization edited and deleted hundreds of articles referencing Jang around the time of his execution, NK News reported on Friday.
In attempt to justify Jang's execution, KCNA published an article, which has since been deleted, referring to the leader as "despicable human scum" and "worse than a dog." Despite North Korean government's vitriol towards Jang, the ill will apparently didn't extend to Kim Kyong-hui, Jang's wife (Kim Jong Un's aunt). She appeared on a KCNA list of leaders this weekend, the New York Times reported.
The news purge appears to extend beyond the digital sphere. Frank Feinstein, who runs the website KNCA Watch, told NK News that North Korea's state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun also deleted about 20,000 articles from its archive.
“This is a a calculated thing they’ve done," Feinstein said. "Across all sites, it means the order most likely came from above each individual agency."
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Image: KNS/AFP/Getty Images