US EditionDecades-Long Efforts to Send Uncensored Foreign News Into North Korea Face Major Setbacks
Government-funded radio broadcasts into North Korea dropped 85% due to U.S. and South Korean policy shifts, leaving small groups and digital efforts to continue outreach, 38 North said.
- This year, major U.S. and South Korean Korean‑language networks stopped, with Voice of America and Radio Free Asia halting broadcasts while Free North Korea Radio persists.
- Funding cuts and policy shifts prompted the change this year, with South Korean Defense Ministry saying suspensions aimed to reduce tensions and Chung Dong-young calling broadcasts a 'relic of the Cold War.'
- Defectors such as Kim Ki-sung and Paek Yosep recount covert listening despite North Korea's Reactionary Ideology and Culture Rejection Law, which reportedly imposes up to 10 years' hard labor.
- Last month, 38 North assessed that outside broadcasts into North Korea fell by 85%, and activists and FNK staff fear residents have been abandoned, expressing heavy-hearted conflict over the pause.
- This month, a new website and app were launched by Lee Young-hyeon, defector-turned-lawyer, offering practical content including cryptocurrency to North Koreans living abroad.
23 Articles
23 Articles
Decades-long efforts to send uncensored foreign news into North Korea face major setbacks
A respected academic website focused on North Korea, 38 North, assessed last month that such outside radio broadcasting toward North Korea was down by 85% after cuts made by the U.S. and South Korean governments.
Radio Waves of Freedom: Broadcasting Truth to North Korea
Radio Waves of Freedom: Broadcasting Truth to North Korea For two hours every day, Lee Si-young and her colleagues at Free North Korea Radio broadcast real-time, uncensored news into North Korea. These broadcasts offer a rare glimpse of the outside world to North Koreans, who risk imprisonment if caught listening.This year, however, Lee expressed a growing sense of unease. Major broadcasters in the U.S. and South Korea have stopped airing Korean…
Decades-long efforts to send uncensored foreign news into North Korea face major setbacks
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- For two hours every day, Lee Si-young and her colleagues broadcast uncensored foreign news into authoritarian North Korea. Her radio audience could go to jail if caught listening.
Decades-long efforts to send uncensored foreign news into North Korea face major setbacks
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — For two hours every day, Lee Si-young and her colleagues broadcast uncensored foreign news into authoritarian North Korea. Her radio audience could go to jail if caught listening. Lee’s Seoul-based Free North Korea Radio station has tried for two decades to give real-time news to North Korea’s 26 million people. […]
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 43% of the sources lean Left, 43% of the sources are Center
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
