Tag Archives: Shortwave Radio News

Radio Korea struggles to stay on air

A problem worth noting: Radio Korea has been having difficulty keeping their shortwave broadcasts on the air. As North Korea Tech points out, their domestic broadcasting arm is still operating:

(Source: North Korea Tech via shrtwvr)

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.

[…]The problems have also hit the DPRK’s radio jamming operations, which attempt to block Korean-language foreign radio reception by broadcasting strong noise on the same frequency.

The most severe jamming is usually targeted at “Echo of Hope” and “Voice of the People,” two stations that are believed to be broadcast by the South Korean government.

[…]It’s [also] worth noting that the DPRK’s shortwave transmitters carrying the domestic service, largely for listeners in the country, have not been hit by such problems.

The problems could be technical in nature, perhaps related to faulty equipment, or due to an electricity shortage.

Curious, that these problems are occuring not so very long after the death of Kim Jong-il. Could it point to other problems with infrastructure under Kim Jong-un’s authority? These may be difficult times for those people living under North Korea’s repressive regime–= especially in light of recent food aid suspension.

Read the full article–and listen to radio clips of the interruptions–at North Korea Tech’s website.

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