Radio
Voice of Korea mid-2012 schedule
Apr 26th
North Korea’s international shortwave broadcaster, the Voice of Korea, will use the following schedule for English language broadcasts from April 30, 2012.
The radio station broadcasts two programs a day, each around 57 minutes long. Program one is carried on broadcasts aimed at South East Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, South Africa and Central and South America. Program two is carried on broadcasts for Europe, North America and North East Asia.
Each of these programs includes the same core features: the news, editorials and the reminiscences of Kim Il Sung. Music and other features sometimes differ between the two broadcasts.
They More >
DPRK radio transmitters a national secret
Apr 25th
When North Korea launched a modernization of its broadcasting network in 2011, the Chinese company chosen to supply new TV and radio transmitters to the country faced a problem.
The location of broadcast towers in North Korea is so much of a state secret that engineers from the company weren’t permitted to travel to the DPRK to help install the transmitters, the company, Beijing BBEF Science and Technology, said on its website.
Instead, eight North Korean engineers spent a month in China being trained on how to install and operate the devices, which included a medium-power TV transmitter, several shortwave radio transmitters and a powerful More >
Voice of Korea still having problems staying on-air
Mar 28th
Voice of Korea, the DPRK’s international shortwave radio broadcaster, is still having technical problems that result in entire broadcasts failing to make it on-air.
The problems began just over a month ago when some Voice of Korea broadcasts failed to appear at their scheduled times.
Now, a month later, the broadcaster is still failing to match its schedule. Today, on March 27, some of the scheduled transmissions were heard but others were missing.
Here’s a clip from a broadcast on March 20 when, midway through a piece of music the transmitter suddenly goes off air.
http://www.northkoreatech.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1203201000-6285-txcutoff-edit.mp3It was due to remain on air for several additional More >
DPRK radio disappears
Feb 24th
Several of North Korea’s external radio services and its powerful jamming operation that blocks foreign broadcasts are having trouble staying on the air.
Voice of Korea, the country’s international radio outlet, was missing from several of its scheduled broadcasts on Thursday, according to monitoring from sites in South Korea, Japan and the U.S.
Two days earlier its English-language broadcast to North America, scheduled from 1500-1554 GMT (1000-1054 Eastern Time) abruptly cut off around 20 minutes into the broadcast and didn’t return. On Thursday the French program left the air five minutes early while in the middle of a song.
All these events are highly More >
DPRK again at bottom of press freedom ranking
Jan 28th
North Korea has again been ranked the second-worst country in the world for press freedom by Reporters Without Borders. The Paris-based organization has consistently ranked the DPRK at the bottom of the world in terms of press freedom for the last decade.
“It is no surprise that the same trio of countries, Eritrea, Turkmenistan and North Korea, absolute dictatorships that permit no civil liberties, again occupy the last three places in the index,” it said in the survey.
The news should come as no surprise to North Korea watchers. The government holds absolute control over the media, which delivers a centrally composed message through TV, radio and newspaper More >
Voice of Korea on Kim’s funeral
Dec 30th
From my own monitoring, here are a couple of reports from Voice of Korea, North Korea’s shortwave radio service, on the event surrounding the funeral of Kim Jong Il.
December 29 broadcast (covering the events of the previous day)
Voice of Korea reports on the funeral procession of Kim Jong Il.
http://www.northkoreatech.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/111227-vok-kim-visit.mp3December 28 broadcast
Voice of Korea reports that Kim Jong Un visited the bier of Kim Jong Il
http://www.northkoreatech.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/111227-vok-kim-visit.mp3The report begins:
Respected Kim Jong Un, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea and supreme leader of our party, state and army, in reflection of the boundless mourning of the entire army More >
Voice of Korea announces death of Kim Jong Il
Dec 19th
The Voice of Korea, North Korea’s international radio service, made its first broadcast in English after the announcement of the death of Kim Jong Il.
The broadcast was dominated by a news bulletin that attempted to carry some of the emotion being seen and heard on domestic media, but the announcer didn’t reach tears.
The 55-minute long broadcast was recorded on 6285kHz shortwave at 1000 GMT.
http://www.northkoreatech.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/111219-vok-kim-death.mp300:00 Open
00:40 National anthem
02:20 Welcome to English-language program
02:40 Mixed chorus: Song of General Kim Il Sung
05:25 Male chorus: Song of General Kim Jong Il
08:05 News
20:45 Clip ends after the main news item.
The script took the form of More >
Kim Jong Il’s death – monitoring North Korean TV and radio
Dec 19th
The news of Kim Jong Il’s death has all eyes focused on the Asian nation. Unlike many other countries, there’s only a handful of official news outlets and getting direct access can be difficult.
North Korean TV (KCTV) can be watched live through the Thaicom 5 satellite throughout Asia, the Middle East, Africa and some parts of Europe but you’ll need a satellite dish at least 3 meters across. If you have such a dish point it at:
Thaicom 5 (78.5 degrees East); Transponder 7G C-band; 3,696MHz, DVB-S signal, symbol rate 3367
North Korean radio (KCBS) is easier to catch. In neighboring countries it can More >
Voice of Korea B11 schedule
Oct 29th
North Korea’s international shortwave broadcaster, the Voice of Korea, will use the following schedule for English language broadcasts from October 31, 2011, until late March 2012.
The programs appear to be refreshed during the local Korean day with each programming cycle beginning with the 1000 GMT broadcast.
The news output, which has not been observed to change more than once a day, follows closely the English-language stories from KCNA with minor editing. It’s generally a day behind the news being put out on the domestic service in Korean.
Each program is about 55 minutes long.
B11 schedule for Japan’s broadcasts to North Korea
Oct 25th
The two Japanese broadcasts that target North Korea, Shiokaze and Furusato no kaze, are updating their broadcast schedules to the winter (B11) period that runs from October 30, 2011 to March 25, 2012.
Shortwave radio remains a vitally important way to reach into North Korea because of the total lack of international communications offered to its citizens.
Shiokaze (しおかぜ) is run by a private organization, the “Investigation Commission on Missing Japanese probably related to North Korea” (COMJAN), and it broadcasts from
