Korean Friendship Association

Criticism

NK News describes the KFA as "one of the DPRK's primary tools of soft power within its global propaganda network".

In 2005 journalist David Scofield of Asia Times called members of KFA "useful idiots" and described the organization as follows:

The group's activities include "information" seminars where the enlightened benevolence of Kim's rule is championed, all part of its "alternative" view of the North. The ragged wretched displays of poverty and starvation are edited out and the voice of North Koreans not in the direct employ of Kim Jong-il are conspicuously absent. In place of uncomfortable reality, the KFA offers vacation photos of "their" North Korea taken during recent, state-supported visits, complete with bowling, golf, amusement parks and Karaoke with young female party members. Members write glowing pieces, oblations celebrating Kim Jong-il's wise rule. No starving people, torture, summary execution, penury or despair in the Korean Friendship Association's North Korea. Just golf, great meals and evenings in the company of Kim Jong-il's beauties.

A 2015 investigation by NK News found the commercial practices and integrity of the KFA to be in question.

According to Hazel Smith of Cranfield University, KFA associations have lost much of their original role as part of an international socialist movement. Today, they are reduced to serving domestic purposes of North Korea.

The documentary The Mole: Undercover in North Korea, by Danish film maker Mads Brügger, was released in 2020. It tells the story of Ulrich Larsen, an unemployed chef who infiltrated the KFA and came into contact with KFA president, Alejandro Cao de Benós, and North Korean government officials. The film shows North Korean officials discussing how to evade sanctions in order to export weapons.