Television
North Korean TV on execution of Jang Song Thaek
Dec 14th
Korean Central Television broadcast a 17-minute report on the special military tribunal of the DPRK Ministry of State Security. The trial concluded by sentencing Jang to death.
Here’s the clip:
KCNA deleted, then restored old reports on Jang
Dec 11th
News reports that centered on Jang Song Thaek were deleted from the Korean Central News Agency’s website in the hours before state media announced his removal from power on Monday.
The reports vanished from the Korean-language portion of the site at around 5am Korean time on Monday (8pm GMT Sunday), said Frank Feinstein, a New Zealand-based researcher who runs the KCNA Watch service.
He said only the reports in which Jang was a central character were removed. Others that mentioned him in passing remained on the KCNA website. Feinstein was using his own index of KCNA articles as a reference to the original URLs.
“This More >
North Korean media coverage of Jang’s departure
Dec 10th
North Korea’s state media revealed in stunning detail on Monday the alleged infractions of Jang Song Thaek and showed still images of his being led from a Worker’s Party of Korea meeting by soldiers.
The reports, which are unprecedented for North Korea, came just less than a week after South Korea’s National Intelligence Service reported to lawmakers in Seoul that he had been removed from power.
Here’s how state TV made the announcement.
Still images of Jang being led away are shown around the 8:40 mark.
And here’s the same story in English, as broadcast on Voice of Korea. The news begins at the More >
UK’s Channel 4 showing North Korea’s evening TV news
Oct 18th
As part of a season of programs and reports on North Korea, the U.K.’s Channel 4 is showing the main evening news from Korea Central Television with English translation.
The news bulletins are being carried on Channel 4’s website under the banner “North Korea Uncovered” and begin with the news from October 14.
“North Korea Uncovered: a rare chance to watch North Korean television news,” the caption for the first bulletin reads.
They are accompanied by other reports in the series including a look at the country’s first ski resort by Swiss journalist Marc Wolfenberger.
The daily newscast has been available online for several years through More >
KCTV Facebook page deleted, but streams live on
Jun 14th
A Facebook page that claimed to be the official home of North’s Korea’s main national TV channel, Korean Central Television, has disappeared.
The page appeared to have been around for at least a month and content included links to KCTV news bulletins on the YouTube channel of the China-based Uriminzokkiri website, photos and stories from the government’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) and some “behind the scenes” pictures from the TV station.
It was written as if it was being run from within the TV station in Pyongyang — something that appears to have fooled several major international news agencies — but More >
Live from Pyongyang, it’s KCTV on Facebook … or maybe not
Jun 10th
On Thursday, South Korea’s Yonhap reported on a new Facebook page in the name of the Korean Central Television, North Korea’s national TV station. (Updated. See below.)
Yonhap said, “North Korea’s state broadcaster started real-time Facebook broadcasting as the communist country moves to expand its propaganda efforts into the social networking realm, official sources said Thursday.”
In never divulged who the “official sources” were beyond describing them as people “who keep tabs on the North.”
Later in the day, Agence France Presse reported the same Facebook page, reporting on the news of Kim Jong Un’s visit to a mushroom farm in the first news bulletin of More >
KCTV gets more connected
Apr 20th
Korean Central Television, the DPRK’s main nationwide TV channel, appears to have received another technology upgrade.
New satellite images uploaded to Google Earth show four satellite dishes on the roof of a building at the TV and radio broadcasting center. They weren’t there a few months ago.
It’s interesting because previously the TV and radio broadcasting center didn’t appear to have any link with the rest of the world. At least, nothing direct it controlled. It’s quite possible that signals from overseas were downlinked somewhere else and supplied over cable to the building.
Here’s the building as shown in a Google image from More >
Report: DPRK testing digital TV
Mar 17th
North Korea began digital TV broadcasting trials last year, according to a report published this week.
There were no other details of the tests included in the report, which was carried by the Korea Computer Center’s Naenara portal as part of an article on upgrades to the country’s telecommunications systems.
“On the basis of the trial introduction of digital TV broadcasting last year the ministry is working to lay the material and technical foundation for applying it stage by stage while developing programs and introducing facilities,” the report said.
State media isn’t believed to have reported on the trials in the past.
A switch More >
Ranking Eric Schmidt’s Pyongyang trip
Jan 12th
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt is back from Pyongyang. His visit made headlines around the world, but what about inside North Korea?
I took a look at the main 8pm evening news on North Korean TV to see where the visit ranked. Details of Eric Schmidt’s movements were reported on both Wednesday and Thursday.
Domestic news dominated the news both days, as it usually does. There were many items about workers across the country reacting to and supporting Kim Jong Un’s New Year address. The “Google delegation” news accounted for 30 seconds of the 10-minute bulletin on Wednesday, and 35 seconds of a More >
South Korea to continue analog TV near border
Dec 27th
Just days away from completing a nationwide switch from analog to digital television, South Korea has announced plans to continue analog TV broadcasting in border areas so that North Koreans don’t lose access to the signals.
Overseas radio and TV broadcasts are about the only free media available to North Koreans, although reception isn’t easy. Officially banned from receiving such transmissions, North Koreans typically have to modify reception equipment and listen or watch in secret.
It’s difficult to know the exact number of people who tune into South Korean broadcasts. The signals don’t reach deep into North Korea, but they are likely More >
