Media
North Koreans to soon loose access to South Korean TV
Nov 6th
South Korea’s impending closure of analog television broadcasts will cut off one of the few uncensored sources of information available to North Korean citizens.
South Korea, like many countries, is coming towards the end of a transition from analog to digital broadcasting and ending analog transmissions region by region.
The process began in August but didn’t affect North Korean viewers until October 25, when analog TV was switched off in Gangwon province. The second stage that will affect North Korea is the final step in the process, when analog TV in the Seoul metropolitan area and Gyonggi province will end on December More >
Voice of Korea winter 2012/13 schedule
Oct 31st
Many international radio stations, including the Voice of Korea, just made their semi-annual schedule change to accomodate seasonal broadcasting conditions.
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 broadly follow More >
Japanese flat-screen TVs on evening news
Oct 10th
North Korea’s main evening news bulletin reported on Saturday evening about big-screen Japanese televisions.
The report was contained as one of the brief foreign news items sometimes included at the end of the program and followed reports about a speech made by the Russian foreign minister at the UN General Assembly and a protest in Okinawa against the deployment by U.S. forces of Osprey aircraft.
The LCD TV report appears to contain footage of Sony and Panasonic televisions and looks like it was shot at the IFA consumer electronics, which took place in Berlin in late August and early September. That makes More >
Visiting Tokyo’s Korean Book Center
Oct 9th
There aren’t many places in the world outside of North Korea that you can just walk in and peruse DPRK propaganda, but Tokyo’s Korea Book Center is one place that you can.
It was a place I never managed to get to when I lived in Tokyo, so I decided to visit last week when I was back in Japan.
I had imagined the place would be bigger, but it’s really no larger than an average size room. (Click images below for larger versions)
There are three lines of bookcases with books in Korean and Japanese. There’s also some audiovisual content, which I’ll More >
China modernized North Korea’s TV news
Oct 1st
The sudden refresh of North Korea’s staid state TV evening news appears be thanks to help from China’s state TV broadcaster.
China Central Television, the government-run broadcaster of China, donated 5 million yuan (about US$800,000) of equipment to North Korea’s Korea Central Television to help improve its news broadcasts, according to a Chinese news report.
There are very few details of the deal except for a single Chinese-language report and a piece from the Korea Central News Agency.
Here’s the North Korean report:
Pyongyang, September 26 (KCNA) — The Chinese Central TV donated equipment to the Central Broadcasting Committee of Korea. A donating ceremony took place here More >
Voice of Korea gets an e-mail address
Sep 19th
Voice of Korea, the DPRK’s international shortwave radio service, has started telling its listeners it has an email address.
The radio station opened a web site more than a year ago but never advertised an email address and continued to ask listeners to send messages via postal mail.
Now it says it is accepting emails at vok@star-co.net.kp, according to Arnulf Piontek in Berlin, who supplied a copy of the letter (below).
It says, “The address will help further developing the friendly relations between our broadcast and listeners.”
I tried sending an email to the address but it bounced back with an error “Unknown address More >
More on KCTV’s new-look news
Sep 12th
More video of the new-look evening news on Korea Central Television has emerged and it reveals the 8pm newscast has a new introduction in addition to new set.
Gone is the familiar opening theme replaced by a new theme that is every bit as grand. The opening sequence has also been renewed with more complex computerized graphics.
Here’s a short YouTube video showing the difference. This is in addition to the changes noted last week that took place on the news broadcast’s set.
It’s a small change for sure, but in a country like North Korea where so much effort is put into propaganda More >
KCTV’s evening news gets an update
Sep 10th
North Korea’s main evening news bulletin has gotten a visual refresh. The TV program, which ranks as one of the government’s most important tools in information dissemination — both domestically and internationally — has had a few minor updates over the last year but the most recent refresh is perhaps the biggest.
The paintings that adorned the studio wall behind the presenters have been replaced with a video wall. In a few postings on YouTube, several different backgrounds can be seen.
In the first example, the news reader is sitting in front of a large representation of the globe that slowly turns More >
South Korean Defense Ministry steps up DPRK broadcasts
Aug 15th
A radio station believed to be operated by South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense has strengthened its radio broadcasts to North Korea, according to reports from radio monitors in Japan.
MND Radio added extra shortwave frequencies from August 9 in an apparent attempt to get around the DPRK’s heavy jamming of its signal.
The current schedule for the station’s four programs a day now looks like this (all times in GMT)
MND Radio Schedule
0400-0440 on 5900, 6760kHz – Program 1 0500-0535 on 5150, 6435kHz – Program 2 0600-0650 on 5410, 6700kHz – Program 3 0700-0735 on 5290, 6270kHz – Program 4 1000-1035 on 5150, 6435kHz – Program 2 More >
DPRK are new baddies in Hollywood movie remake
Aug 14th
Imagine, you’re midway through shooting a movie in which China invades the U.S. and all that stands in its way of national domination is a small group of teens. You might think that sentence sums up your biggest problem, but you’re wrong.
Portions of the script and photos from the set have been leaked in China, one of your biggest potential markets, and the Chinese are not pleased.
The Beijing-based Global Times, which always has much to say about Sino-U.S. issues, shouts “U.S. Reshoots Cold War Movie to Demonize China,” and “American Movie Plants Hostile Seeds Against China,” on successive days in its More >
