Ri Chun-hee (also

romanized Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

as Ri Chun Hee or Ri Chun Hui ; born 8 July 1943) is a North Korean news presenter for

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

n broadcaster

Korean Central Television Korean Central Television (KCTV; ) is a television service operated by the Korean Central Broadcasting Committee, a state-owned broadcaster in North Korea. It is broadcast terrestrially via the Pyongyang TV Tower in Moranbong-guyok, Pyongy ...

. She is most notable for her characteristic emotional and sometimes vitriolic tone, described as "passionate", "vaguely menacing", and "aggressive". She announced her retirement in 2012, but still occasionally presents the news of major developments.

Early life and education

Ri was born in 1943 to a poor family in

Tongchon T'ongch'ŏn County is a ''kun'', or county, in Kangwŏn province, North Korea. It abuts the Sea of Japan (East Sea of Korea) to the north and east. Famous people from T'ongch'ŏn include Hyundai Founder Chung Ju-yung, who is believed to have be ...

in Gangwon, Japanese Korea. Ri studied

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

at Pyongyang University of Theatre and Film and was recruited as a newsreader by KCTV.

Career

Ri began work onscreen in February 1971, became chief news presenter of KCTV and was consistently on‑air from the mid-1980s onwards. Her career was unique for its longevity; while many at KCTV were demoted or purged, her career was never interrupted. When she announced her retirement in January 2012, she told Chinese media that she would be working behind the scenes and training a new generation of broadcasters. The UK's ''Daily Telegraph'' commented that she had been "entrusted with announcing great moments in North Korean history". American journalist and author

Bob Woodward Robert Upshur Woodward (born March 26, 1943) is an American investigative journalist. He started working for '' The Washington Post'' as a reporter in 1971 and now holds the title of associate editor. While a young reporter for ''The Washingt ...

referred to her as North Korea's

Walter Cronkite Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' for 19 years (1962–1981). During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the mo ...

in his 2018 book '' Fear: Trump in the White House''. Ri came out of retirement to announce major news stories. She announced North Korea's claim to have carried out an H-bomb detonation in January 2016 and a missile launch in February 2016. She also announced the

nuclear test Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine nuclear weapons' effectiveness, Nuclear weapon yield, yield, and explosive capability. Testing nuclear weapons offers practical information about how the weapons function, how detona ...

s of September 2016, September 2017 and the missile test in November 2017. Later, she announced the suspension of North Korean nuclear and intercontinental ballistic testing in April 2018 and the Singapore summit between Kim and Donald Trump in June 2018. On April 15, 2018, Ri read a report that named Kim Jong-un's wife, Ri Sol-ju, as the "

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non- monarchical head of state or chief executive. The term is also used to describe a woman seen to be at the ...

" for the first time. In 2022, Kim gave luxury houses to Ri and other North Korean elites. Ri narrated a state media video of Kim giving her a tour of her new Pyongyang home.

Style

Ri has received high acclaim from the North Korean regime for her resonant voice, impressive mood and outstanding eloquence. She is known for her melodramatic announcing style. She often speaks in a wavering and exuberant tone when praising the nation's leaders, and conversely with visible anger when denouncing its enemies. According to

Brian Reynolds Myers Brian Reynolds Myers (born 1963), usually cited as B. R. Myers, is an American professor of international studies at Dongseo University in Busan, South Korea, best known for his writings on North Korean propaganda. He is a contributing editor ...

, a professor at

Dongseo University Dongseo University (DSU) is a private university in Busan, the second largest city of South Korea. Established in 1992 through the Dongseo Educational Foundation, it provides higher education to approximately 11,000 full-time students, includi ...

and an expert in North Korean propaganda, her training in drama serves her well, given the large amount of showmanship that is typical of North Korean broadcasting. When she made the official announcement of

Kim Il-sung's death Kim Il-sung died of a sudden heart attack on the early morning of 8 July 1994 at age 82. North Korea's government did not report the death for more than 34 hours after it occurred. An official mourning period was declared from 8–17 July, ...

in 1994, Ri was visibly crying during the broadcast. Likewise, when she announced Kim Jong-il's death in 2011, she was seen holding back tears. Ri usually appears wearing either a pink Western-style suit or in a traditional Korean joseon-ot. She is nicknamed the "Pink Lady" and "North Korean News Lady".

Early life and education

Career

Style

References

Further reading