Having come up with the terms “inner track,” “outer track” and “export track” in the discussion of North Korean propaganda, I can perhaps be excused for insisting that the original distinction between the three be maintained.
There are more tracks and track-internal gradations than I need to deal with here. It is enough if the reader keeps in mind a distinction between a) the inner track, by which I mean propaganda intended for North Koreans only, b) the outer track, which is propaganda written for domestic consumption in the constraining awareness of outside monitors, and c) the export track, or propaganda for outsiders. This last, which includes statements made in negotiations, can in turn be divided into the kind aimed at South Koreans and the kind aimed at foreigners. (North Korea’s Juche Myth, 2015, 9.)
I see and hear these terms used my way, but not always; NK News, for example, seems to be settling into the use of “outer track” to mean North Korean propaganda for South Korean readers.
If this custom takes hold it will obscure the important differences of tone and content between the actual outer track (Rodong Sinmun, the nightly TV news, etc) and the inner track (party lectures, political novels, etc).
This in turn may contribute to an unfortunate trend in Western academic papers on North Korea: token quotation from the Rodong Sinmun or KCNA, and nothing else from the DPRK itself, as a way of ticking the primary-research box.
