March 31 (Bloomberg) -- The first magazine about North Korea reported by North Koreans from inside the country will start publishing a Japanese version this week to try to force change in one of the most isolated countries in the world.

Rimjin-gang, the name of a river that flows between North and South Korea, will feature reports on North Korea only using accounts from people based in the country, Jiro Ishimaru, a Japanese journalist who founded the magazine, said in an interview.

``There is a limit to how well we outsiders can report on North Korea,'' Ishimaru said. ``The number is still small, but now we have North Koreans willing to do the job for us.''

Under Kim Jong Il's Stalinist dictatorship, North Koreans are only allowed to watch government-controlled TV programs and censored articles. As many as 200,000 people, or nearly 9 percent of North Korea's population, are in prison or labor camps, according to estimates from human rights groups.

The magazine uses reports from refugees who agreed to go back to North Korea and report on conditions there, Ishimaru said. They were given cameras to record life in the country.

Material for the magazine is smuggled out of North Korea and delivered to editorial staff in Osaka, Ishimaru, who has covered the country for nearly two decades and is author of the ``The North Koreans,'' said.

The first Japanese edition has reports on a recent crackdown on deregulated markets, interviews with Pyongyang residents about the 2007 visit of former South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun, a story about a man released from a political prison and an interview with a government official in charge of the economy.

The Japanese-language magazine, which will be published quarterly, will go on sale on April 3 every three months and an English version will start in June. A Korean-language version started publishing last year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Hideko Takayama in Tokyo at htakayama10@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 31, 2008 02:58 EDT