Running Head: RHETORICAL ANALYSIS ON LIBERTY IN NORTH KOREA

Rhetorical Analysis on Liberty In North Korea

Andrea Corral Rosales

The University of Texas at El Paso

RWS 1301

Professor Saul Hernandez

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Rhetorical Analysis on Liberty In North Korea

Liberty in North Korea is an organization that creates visual resources, online content,

and campaigns to educate the global community on the challenges facing the North Korean

people and their potential to drive change. Their website LibertyInNorthKorea.org is the

platform in which they post their content to raise awareness and collect donations that are used

toward helping North Korean refugees. Like any other website trying to send a message to an

audience, Liberty In North Korea uses rhetoric, the art of effective or persuasive speaking or

writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques.

(OxfordDictionaries.com, 2017). Aristotle, a famous Greek intellectual, described three technical

means of persuasion. In the following paragraphs, based on Aristotle's three appeals Ethos,

Pathos and Logos, I will perform a rhetorical analysis, which is the study of whether and how

texts actually do affect, influence, or change auditors, (Covino & Jolliffe, 1995, p. 329) to the

website LibertyInNorthKorea.org.

The first characteristic is Ethos, which is generally defined as the good character and

consequent credibility of the rhetor (Covino & Jolliffe, 1995, p. 336). To effectively persuade

their audience, Liberty In North Korea must show credibility and appear worthy of trust. Ethos

can be exhibited in a website as transparency, factual correctness, and source credibility.

(Padon, D. C., 2016, p.124). Transparency in LibertyInNorthKorea.org is mostly found in their

About section. Contact is the first section under the About tab, there the visitors to the

website can effortlessly find Liberty in North Korea's address, social media accounts, and

different email addresses for all inquiries, there even is a formulary that can be filled to facilitate

contact with their team. Having their contact information easily accessible for everyone goes to

show that they are willing to stand behind their claims. Next up is the Our Team section,
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which is dedicated to showcase high-ranking employees. They display smiley headshots of

everyone from the Chief Executive Officer to their managers and filmmakers, under the pictures

is their name, title, and a small background story and a brief description of their position in the

Liberty In North Korea team. An insight into the people that put in the work in the organization

gives the audience a sense of trust therefore adding to LiNK's credibility. The last section that

contributes to the website's Ethos is Financials. As a not-for-profit organization that asks for

donations, Liberty in North Korea is subject to doubt of the destination the capital donated. The

purpose of Financials is to refute any suspicion of misuse of the money donated. They display

their revenue growth, how much of it goes to programs, and annual reports; in addition, at the

very bottom of the page they link the website for their public accountants and their profile on

GuideStar, an information service that specializes in transparently reporting on U.S. nonprofit

organizations. Again, at the very bottom of their home page, there are links to some articles by

renowned magazines, newspapers, and other media. they have been mentioned in. As well as

credibility, Liberty in North Korea uses resources to appeal to the public's emotion.

Pathos is based on that an effective text will somehow activate or draw upon the

sympathies and emotions of the auditors, causing them to attend to and accept its ideas,

propositions, or calls for action (Covino & Jolliffe, 1995, p. 338). Colors, sounds, images,

fonts, and narratives are all ways to use Pathos in a website. (Padon, D. C., 2016, p.124).

LibertyInNorthKorea.org has a lot of Pathos, especially in their Learn tab. Under the tab they

have their Blog, a collection of narratives that are mostly testimonies from some of the people

they have helped. Watch Videos is another section dedicated mostly to testimonies, these

videos are particularly moving since they are personally narrated by the refugee. The Why

North Korea, The People's Challenges and Resettlement Challenges are sections that serve
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as incentives to make people want to donate. They reveal the heartbreaking life people living in

North Korea have, and the challenges they face when they finally flee somewhere else. Pathos in

a subject like this one is a resource Liberty In North Korea could not afford to leave untouched

but without facts and evidence, persuasion cannot occur.

Logos in ancient Greek means more than simple logic or reasoning; it means something

like thought plus action...logos, accompanied by the other two appeals, mobilizes the powers of

reasoning (Covino & Jolliffe, 1995, p. 338). The Logos in a website can be seen in its layout,

the ease of navigation, the use of facts, statistics, quotes from experts, and consistency in the

message. (Padon, D. C., 2016, p.124). When the website of Liberty in North Korea is first

accessed, the audience is greeted by a centered text that reads: The North Korean people are

overcoming one of the greatest challenges facing humanity today. We work with the people to

accelerate change. (Liberty In North Korea, 2017). The message is displayed over a background

of a grid of pictures of North Korean refugees that have been helped by the organization. At the

very top, there is a section of tabs that unfold to show the different sections under each one of

them, this system makes the navigation of the site easy. LiNK's website is consistent, they stick

to the same style, colors, fonts, and it flows the same way all throughout the different tabs.

LibertyInNorthKorea.org is filled with facts in their Why North Korea where they display

statistics referent to refugees. In the section North Korea Resources, under the Learn label, is

a collection of various resources referent to North Korea. By using Logos, LiNK facilitates the

reasoning of the audience.

In brief, Liberty In North Korea uses rhetoric wisely in their website

LibertyInNorthKorea.org. They utilize Ethos in the transparency they portray by giving

information about their organization. The appeal Pathos is heavily applied in their narrative
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videos, and emotional blog entries. LiNK has a strong use of statistics and facts when it comes to

refugees, all product of the application of Logos. As has been noted, Liberty In North Korea is an

organization that knows of the importance of rhetoric and how to use it effectively to influence

their auditors.
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References

Covino, W. & Jolliffee, D. (1995). What is rhetoric? In D. Downs & E. Wardle (Eds.) Writing

about Writing (p. 325-346). Boston: Bedford/St. Martins.

Liberty in North Korea. (n.d.). Retrieved October 14, 2017, from

https://www.libertyinnorthkorea.org/

Padon, D. C. (20160801). The Rhetoric and Writing Studies Handbook, 1st Edition.

[BryteWave]. Retrieved from https://shelf.brytewave.com/#/books/9780692759530/

Rhetoric. (2017). OxfordDictionaries.com. Retrieved from

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/rhetoric