North Korea

Without a doubt, North Korea is one part of the world that is information starved. Open Radio for North Korea uses the shortwaves to get their messages across the border:

(Source: Deutsche Welle)

The North Korean regime suppresses all forms of free information within the country. “Open Radio for North Korea” broadcasts international news via shortwave and FM from neighboring South Korea for the North. World in Progress talked to the radio station’s founder, Tae Keung Ha, about the role of outside broadcasters for the people of North Korea.

Tae Keung Ha: I find the human rights situation and the media control in North Korea, I think, the most severe, the most serious in the world. Radio is very special for the North Korean people to get outside news, because in North Korea they don’t have any Internet connections. Social network services, Facebook, Twitter are impossible inside of North Korea.

Also, all the calls in North Korea are monitored, strictly wired by the North Korean regime. And their TV system is different from the South Korean system – they cannot watch South Korean TV.
Domestic phonecalls in North Korea are controlled by the government

Internal information is strictly blocked by the regime, so a person in the northern part of North Korea doesn’t know what’s happening in the southern part of North Korea. The North Korean media only broadcast their own propaganda, so we have underground correspondents inside North Korea, 10 to 20, it varies. They offer us news about what’s happening inside North Korea.

Read full transcript/interview at DW-Welle.de

This isn’t the first time we’ve mentioned stations targeting North Korea, click here to read our previous–yet still totally relevant–article. Also, check out this 2009 article from the LA Times.