The propagandists and censors at the Workers’ Party of Korea can probably hardly believe their luck. For decades they have battled against a constant, daily flow of uncensored news and information into North Korea that directly contradicts the stories they tell their own people about Kim Jong Un, the Korean Peninsula, and the world. But in the last three months, everything has changed. The battle has taken a decisive turn in North Korea’s favor and they did not need to do a thing.
Since May, the number of hours of foreign radio programming broadcast into North Korea has been reduced by almost 80 percent. Given the direction of both the US and South Korean administrations on this issue, that level could fall even further over the coming months.
With heightened border controls in the last few years making it more difficult to smuggle physical media into North Korea, the impact of the cuts in radio broadcasting will be amplified. It also reduces the ability of the US and South Korea to speak directly to the North Korean people, something for which there is no viable alternative method.
Broadcasting
Since at least the early 1970s, foreign radio stations have targeted North Korea with dedicated programming that tells citizens the things the Workers’ Party and Kim Jong Un doesn’t want them to know.
The programs have provided North Koreans with South Korean and world news and uncensored news about North Korea; they have explained democratic principles, taught basic economics and many other topics through hundreds of thousands of hours of broadcasting that could be received across the entire country for those who have the equipment to access it.
But now, many of the transmitters that carried those broadcasts are silent.
The dismantling of the US Agency for Global Media by the Trump administration has led to the cessation of broadcasting by Voice of America and Radio Free Asia. In early July, four radio stations believed to be operated by South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) went silent. They included Echo of Hope (희망의메아리방송), Voice of the People (인민의소리방송), K-News (K-뉴스) and Radio Free Korea (자유코리아방송).
The timing suggests the closure of the Korean stations is likely linked to the change of leadership in South Korea. President Lee Jae Myung has made clear easing tensions with Pyongyang is of one his top priorities. Not only did he unilaterally stop loudspeaker broadcasting at the demilitarized zone (DMZ), he has also cracked down on balloon launches carrying rice and uncensored information across the border.
The closure of the South Korean outlets is even more notable because Echo of Hope, which has been on air since 1973, and Voice of the People, which launched in the mid-1980s[JT1] , have never paused broadcasting since their start, no matter the political relationship between the two Koreas being warm or frosty.
Radio Silence
The peak time for listening to foreign broadcasts is late at night and early in the morning, when North Koreans are at home and less likely to be disturbed by random home inspections.
At the beginning of this year, listeners switching their radios on at 11 pm could find 11 radio stations broadcasting programs aimed at North Korea.
To make it more difficult for North Korean censors to jam the broadcasts, the larger stations broadcast on multiple channels at the same time, so those 11 stations were spread across 25 frequencies. On most nights, several frequencies remained free of jamming due to the sheer number in use.
Unfortunately for North Koreans, the stations that have ceased broadcasting are the ones that made most use of this method, so while the cuts have reduced the number of radio stations on air at 11pm from 11 to five, the number of frequencies in use has dropped from 25 to just six. Consequently, it is much easier for North Korea to completely block all foreign radio stations aimed at the country.
Taken together across each 24 hour period, across all radio stations and frequencies, the number of hours of broadcasting into North Korea has dropped from 415 hours to 89 hours.
Among the remaining broadcasters, the vast majority of the 89 hours come from two South Korean government-affiliate stations: KBS Hanminjok Radio accounts for 54 hours a day and Voice of Freedom, run by the Ministry of National Defense, accounts for 24 hours a day.
Should the South Korean government decide to curtail those broadcasts, all that will be left is a weekday-only 30-minute broadcast by the BBC World Service and a few hours a day from three private stations: Free North Korea Radio, North Korea Reform Radio and National Unity Radio.[1]
However, these private broadcasters are in trouble too. Their budgets are largely funded by the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy and State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Rights and Labor, both of which the Trump administration is attempting to close down.
Audience
The effectiveness of the broadcasts has always been tough to gauge because of the difficulty of audience research, but there are several signs that they are at least a thorn in Kim Jong Un’s side and undermine his attempts to keep the population in the dark.
For decades, North Korea has attempted to jam the signals, broadcasting noise on the same frequency so the broadcast is difficult to hear. In such an energy-starved nation, the use of precious power to block overseas radio points to both an audience for the programming and the danger it poses.
Since 2006, North Korea has had a law that mandates the tuning function on radios and TVs be fixed so they can only tune into state media channels. As a result, all radios in the country must be inspected by the state and registered. Anyone caught with a radio that can tune freely is liable for up to three months in a labor camp. That said, it appears that many North Koreans are willing to take that risk. For instance, a 2010 survey conducted by InterMedia of 250 escapees and North Korean businesspeople in China found 77 percent had a radio capable of tuning into foreign stations. A 2022 survey carried out by Unification Media Group of 100 people inside North Korea found around one in five people had a radio that can tune freely.
There is a sizeable shadow audience who do not listen directly but benefit from information passed by word of mouth. A 2022 survey by Radio Free Asia found almost half of all RFA listeners shared information they heard with immediate family members, friends and neighbors. [2]
Among those surveyed in 2022, the main reason for tuning in was to learn about international affairs, learn about the situation inside North Korea, and learn things helpful for daily life – all areas where North Korean state media fails badly due to censorship.
The Future
In most of the world, cross-border broadcasting is a relic of a bygone era. The Internet or satellite TV are richer and more reliable way for people to search out news and information. But North Korea is not like most of the world. It’s one of the few places where people don’t have access to the Internet and are banned from accessing foreign media.
As a result, radio still plays an important role in reaching the North Korean people.
To be sure, radio listening is falling. Scratchy shortwave broadcasts cannot match the sparkle of South Korean TV dramas and movies that are smuggled into North Korea on USB sticks and memory cards, but radio is the only medium that can carry up-to-the minute news and information to the entirety of North Korea. The content doesn’t have to be smuggled across the border and reception leaves no trace for the authorities to discover, detect or track.
As a result of the cuts, North Koreans will be less informed about local and global events and the information they do receive will be more dated. Many will likely tune into South Korean domestic radio on mediumwave, although KBS is the only major broadcaster with a mediumwave network. Should the political or military situation worsen on the Korean peninsula, the US and South Korea could regret losing these direct links to the North Korean people.
[1] Several religious programmers exist but they do not broadcast news or information. Two radio stations are broadcast from Japan although they are aimed at Japanese citizens believed abducted by North Korea.
[2] North Korea Refugee, Traveler & Defector Survey, Radio Free Asia, 2022
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