The channels featured English-speaking young women, including a girl as young as 11, who claimed to offer an unfiltered look at every day life in North Korea as informal video bloggers, or "vloggers." The YouTube spokesperson said in a statement that the decision to remove the channels was taken to comply with "U.S. sanctions and trade compliance laws, including those related to North Korea." According to NK News, a Seoul-based website that tracks North Korea, the YouTubers have been linked to the Pyongyang-based Sogwang Media Corporation which seeks to expand the country’s external outreach through social media. North Korea-linked Twitter accounts, including those of so-called "friendship associations" in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, have also been blocked in South Korea due to legal demands. Some researchers have complained that removing the accounts cuts off sources of information about North Korea and its media.

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Persons: Harry Potter, Hyunsu Yim, Josh Smith, Simon Cameron, Moore Organizations: YouTube, U.S, South, Korea Communications Standards, National Intelligence Service, North Korean, Google, NK News, Sogwang Media Corporation, Thomson Locations: SEOUL, North, North Korea, South Korea, Seoul, Pyongyang, United Kingdom