Ryan Duffy is a journalist and correspondent best known for his work with Vice Media, including accompanying Dennis Rodman and the Harlem Globetrotters on a visit to North Korea in 2013. Duffy began his career at Vice as an intern while studying journalism at New York University. [1] [2] In 2012, Duffy appeared on Forbes' 30 under 30 list. [3] In 2015, he started a series of short documentary reports with The Huffington Post titled Now What with Ryan Duffy.
Ryan was also the vocalist in the NYC punk band, Dear Tonight. They released several records and went on tour in Europe and the US.
In 2013, as a Vice journalist Duffy accompanied Dennis Rodman and the Harlem Globetrotters on a visit to North Korea, a move which garnered criticism from the diplomatic community and the journalistic world. [4] Along with Rodman and the Globetrotters, Duffy competed in a basketball exhibition game against the North Korean national team. [5]
After meeting supreme leader Kim Jong-un, Duffy observed that "the leader was 'socially awkward' and didn't make eye contact when shaking hands". [6]
While in Pyongyang, Duffy and the other members of the Vice crew attended a lavish dinner hosted by Kim Jong Un. [7] "It was the most surreal experience of my life," Mojica said. [8] Jason Mojica, the show's executive producer, tweeted just prior to the dinner: "Um... so Kim Jong Un just got the #VICEonHBO crew wasted... no really, that happened." McCarthy told the Associated Press: "Dinner was an epic feast. Felt like about 10 courses in total. I'd say the winners were the smoked turkey and sushi, though we had the Pyongyang cold noodles earlier in the trip and that's been the runaway favorite so far." [9] Duffy, McCarthy, and the others were criticized on social media and on news sites for Tweets they posted and comments made to the press praising their cuisine, in lieu of the fact that 150,000 and 2,000,000 North Koreans died of starvation in a famine between 1994 and 1998. The website Gawker posted intermingling tweets and photos of Mojica and his colleagues with images of starving infants and children on the verge of death. New York Magazine commented: "Aside from the brutal slave-labor camps, the routine rape and torture of political prisoners, mass starvation extreme enough to induce episodes of cannibalism... North Korea sounds like a blast!" The New York Times has reported that as many as two million North Koreans have died of starvation. [10] [11] [12] [13]
In 2014, Vice launched Vice Sports with Duffy as publisher, but Duffy left the project as it debuted. [14] [15] Duffy had also been slated to host the channel's Vice World of Sports docuseries. [16]
In October 2015, as part of a slate of 12 new shows, The Huffington Post launched the docuseries Now What with Ryan Duffy . Site founder Arianna Huffington cited the riots in Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray as an example of the kinds of solution-based situations Duffy's program would address, criticizing existing coverage as creating "copycat crimes instead of copycat solutions." [17]
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Pyongyang is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about 109 km (68 mi) upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 population census, it has a population of 3,255,288. Pyongyang is a directly administered city with a status equal to that of the North Korean provinces.
Dennis Keith Rodman is an American former professional basketball player. Known for his fierce defensive and rebounding abilities, his biography on the official NBA website states that he is "arguably the best rebounding forward in NBA history". Nicknamed "the Worm", he played for the Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers, and Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Rodman played at the small forward position in his early years before becoming a power forward.
Matt Cooper is an Irish journalist, author and broadcaster who presents news review show The Last Word on Today FM.
Kim Jong Un is a North Korean politician who has been supreme leader of North Korea since 2011 and the leader of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012. He is the third son of Kim Jong Il, who was North Korea's second supreme leader from 1994 to 2011, and Ko Yong-hui. He is a grandson of Kim Il Sung, who was the founder and first supreme leader of North Korea from its establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. Kim Jong Un is the first leader of North Korea to have been born in the country after its establishment.
Jo Myong-rok was a North Korean military officer who held the military rank Chasu. In 1998, he was appointed first vice-chairman of the National Defence Commission of North Korea, Director of the Korean People's Army General Political Bureau. Previously, he was the commander of the air defence forces.
Jang Song-thaek was a North Korean politician. He was married to Kim Kyong-hui, the only daughter of North Korean premier Kim Il Sung and his first wife Kim Jong-suk, and only sister of North Korean general secretary Kim Jong Il. He was therefore the uncle of the current leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un.
Hyon Yong-chol was a North Korean general and Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) politician. He served as Minister of Defence from 2014 to 2015. In 2015, he was reportedly removed from his post.
Ri Sol-ju is the current First Lady of North Korea as the wife of Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.
The Unhasu Orchestra was a musical group based in Pyongyang, North Korea. It performs primarily with Western instruments, sometimes performing alongside traditional Korean soloists. The orchestra has a concert hall, the Unhasu Theater in Pyongyang, dedicated for its use. Ri Sol-ju, the wife of Kim Jong-un, was a singer in this group. According to ex-North Korean senior government official Thae Yong-ho, the orchestra was disbanded on the 12th August 2013.
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea national basketball team represents the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in international basketball and is controlled by the Amateur Basketball Association of DPR of Korea, the governing body for basketball in North Korea.
Kenneth Bae is a South Korean-born American Evangelical Christian missionary. Convicted by North Korea on charges of planning to overthrow the government, he was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment in April 2013. Bae was released on November 8, 2014, along with fellow American Matthew Todd Miller.
Vice is a documentary TV series created and hosted by Shane Smith of Vice magazine. It covers topics using an immersionist style of documentary filmmaking on Showtime. It premiered on April 5, 2013, on HBO. The show's second season aired in 2014 and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Series or Special.
Kim Ju-ae is the daughter of North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un and his wife Ri Sol-ju.
Kim Yo-jong is a North Korean politician and diplomat serving as the Deputy Department Director of the Publicity and Information Department of the Workers' Party of Korea, or WPK. She also served as an alternate member of the Politburo of the Workers' Party of Korea from 2017 to 2019, and again from 2020 to 2021. Since September 2021, she has served as a member of State Affairs Commission of North Korea, the only woman on the panel.
The Kim Dynasty, also known as the Kim Family or the Mount Paektu by bloodline in the ideological discourse of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), is a three-generation lineage of North Korean leadership, descending from the country's founder and first leader, Kim Il Sung. The patriarch came to rule the north in 1948, after the end of Japanese rule split the region in 1945. He began the Korean War in 1950, in a failed attempt to reunify the Korean Peninsula. In the 1980s, Kim Il Sung developed a cult of personality closely tied to the North Korean state philosophy of Juche. Following his death in 1994, Kim Il Sung's role as supreme leader was passed on to his son Kim Jong Il, and then to his grandson Kim Jong Un. All three men have served as leaders of the WPK and have exercised absolute control over North Korea since the state's establishment in 1948.
Media coverage of North Korea is hampered by an extreme lack of reliable information, coupled with an abundant number of sensationalist falsehoods. There are a number of reasons for this lack of information and incorrect stories.
Now What with Ryan Duffy is an online docuseries fronted by former Vice correspondent Ryan Duffy, focused on global problems and their innovative solutions; the show premiered online on 15 October 2015, with an initial run of 10 episodes.
Kim Jong Un has been the supreme leader of North Korea since the death of Kim Jong Il, the previous leader and his father.
Choe Hwi is a North Korean politician. He is a Vice Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and the chairman of the State Physical Culture and Sports Guidance Commission. Choe's portfolio as the Vice Chairman of the party covers workers' and social organizations affairs. Choe is also an alternate member of the Politburo of the WPK, member of the Central Committee of the WPK, and a deputy to the Supreme People's Assembly.
Jason Mojica is an American journalist, film producer, and musician. He is the co-founder and treasurer of IXNAY PAC, a super PAC devoted to "getting Donald Trump and his cronies out of office." Previously, he was the founding editor-in-chief of VICE News, and in 2013 became one of the first Americans to meet Kim Jong Un when he led the team that brought Dennis Rodman and the Harlem Globetrotters to North Korea. In November 2017, Vice Media fired Mojica after allegations made by several women that he had sexually harassed them surfaced.