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

[4] In 2005 journalist David Scofield of Asia Times called members of KFA "useful idiots"[13] 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.

No starving people, torture, summary execution, penury or despair in the Korean Friendship Association's North Korea.

[14] According to Hazel Smith of Cranfield University, KFA associations have lost much of their original role as part of an international socialist movement.

[10] The documentary The Mole - Undercover in North Korea, by Danish film maker Mads Brügger, was released in 2020.