The Columbia Journalism Review investigates a little-known Voice of America television initiative that quietly broadcast into North Korea from South Korea—until it was recently shut down. The article explores how this short-lived program, launched during the Biden administration, came to an abrupt end under new leadership at the U.S. Agency for Global Media. It raises questions about the shifting priorities in U.S. international broadcasting and how those changes may impact efforts to reach audiences in one of the world’s most closed societies.
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VOA also completely disappeared from Europe over the satellite. VOA was present with TV channels and radio services from Eutelsat Hot Bird 13°E satellites for more than 25 years, starting from WorldNet and continued as VOA TV after merger in 2004.
VOA TV channels have stopped broadcasting in the middle of the March, radio services (RFE) continued, but this stopped at the beginning of June with turning off the whole transponder 76 (12,226 GHz, Vertical).
Trump is taking a longer view with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. He believes soft power such as VOA and RFA are considered antagonistic to those regimes. They hinder any negotiation opportunities. Of course, in the short-term, the collateral damage is the lack of truthful reporting from the outside. There is no hard data that VOA or RFA were being listened too in large numbers. North Korea also had an effective jamming network against VOA and RFA. In the meantime, Trump is not letting up on the military buildup and training exercises in the the ROK, in case he is wrong about Kim.