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Three Things To Read from November 2025
This month covers the fallout from foreign radio shutdowns, how North Korea’s internet connections work, and the possible arrival of spam text messages in the DPRK.
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North Korea retargets radio jamming
North Korea retargeted its radio jamming operations after South Korea’s NIS stopped its broadcasts, now focusing on civilian-run stations like KBS and Voice of Freedom.
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North Korea’s Revised Radio Wave Control Law
A revised Radio Wave Control Law expands North Korea’s legal framework for censoring foreign broadcasts to cover computers and all electronic communications devices.
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NHK radio closure might open a new broadcast pathway to North Korea
Japan’s public broadcaster is planning to close one of its two national mediumwave radio networks in 2026, according to a report in the Asahi Shimbun daily. The newspaper said NHK will announce the plans on October 10. NHK Radio 2 broadcasts educational and cultural programming, including foreign language programs, and is available via a network…
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Korean-language broadcasting in China
In several regions along North Korea’s northern border with China, Korean-language programming from Chinese broadcasters is available on television and radio. Unlike programming such as Voice of America, Radio Free Asia or KBS Social Radio, these broadcasts are not intended for reception in North Korea but for the large number of Korean speakers who live…
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Voice of Korea summer 2020 schedule
It’s been a while since I posted the shortwave schedule for Voice of Korea (조선의소리), North Korea’s international shortwave broadcasting station. The station continues to broadcast just as it always has, despite a steep drop in the number of people tuning into shortwave radio. You can hear daily broadcasts in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, German,…
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New Life for the Third Network
When hundreds of houses and apartments were completed last year, North Korean media showed residents entering their new homes, welcomed with a pile of household goods. On the wall of each home was something else provided by the state: a dedicated receiver for the country’s secretive third radio network (조선중앙제3방송) that relays daily news, instruction,…
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Korean Central Radio testing digital broadcasting
The Korean Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS), North Korea’s main national radio station, has been testing digital radio again. In early December, broadcasts from the station using the DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) format were received on shortwave. Compared to analog AM broadcasts, DRM signals are better quality but like all digital broadcasts there is little tolerance…
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South Korea adjusts some radio frequencies to escape jamming
Two radio stations operated by South Korea’s National Intelligence Service have slightly moved some of their broadcast frequencies to escape North Korean jamming. The stations, Voice of the People and Echo of Hope, are on the air daily broadcasting a constant stream of news and information to an audience in North Korea. For years the…
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How North Korean media covered the Inter-Korean summit
Many amazing sights unfolded at last week’s Inter-Korean Summit in Panmunjon, but one that struck me was the North and South Korean journalists that were running back and forth across the military demarcation line without hinderance. At any other time that kind of thing would be impossible, but journalists from both countries were given unprecedented…
