The Free North Korea Radio () is an independent

radio broadcaster Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio sta ...

based in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. The station is run primarily by

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

n refugees and

defectors In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state in exchange for allegiance to another, changing sides in a way which is considered illegitimate by the first state. More broadly, defection involves abandoning a person, ca ...

and frequently broadcasts short-wave transmissions of news and information to the general population inside

. The radio was established by Kim Seong-min, a former North Korean military monitor for foreign broadcasts, who was influenced by the foreign broadcasts that he monitored and defected from North Korea in 1996. Free North Korea Radio has received an award from

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; french: Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as found ...

in acknowledgement of its efforts. Free North Korea Radio started broadcasting from Seoul in 2004. It is a project of the Defense Forum Foundation, a U.S.-based

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

Threats

Free North Korea Radio staff have been assaulted repeatedly by South Korean extremist groups who support the North Korean regime or fear the destabilizing effect of their broadcasts. Radio staff had to relocate to the outskirts of Seoul in 2005. In July 2020, the ''

Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout ...

'' reported on a cyber attack targeting individuals involved with Free North Korea Radio, including its co-founder Suzanne Scholte. The phishing scam impersonated a prominent journalist from ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'', Uri Friedman, and asked interview questions of Scholte, which security experts told the ''Washington Times'' were part of a larger cyber operation. In response to news of the cyber attack, Col. David Maxwell, an analyst on North Korea, commented: "It’s not surprising that choltewould have been targeted." Maxwell said, "I think the regime is focused on her organization because of the radio broadcasts...Shortwave radio broadcasts are one of the most effective ways to get outside information into North Korea, and the information has an effect."

Types of broadcasts

Free North Korea Radio broadcasts a variety of news and information into North Korea, including news of current events happening within North Korea. The organization relies on a network of anonymous sources inside North Korea for this information, which it also publishes on its Korean-language website.

Funding

As of 2008, Free North Korea Radio received an annual grant from the U.S.

National Endowment for Democracy The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is an organization in the United States that was founded in 1983 for promoting democracy in other countries by promoting political and economic institutions such as political groups, trade unions, ...

. In 2019 former special envoy for North Korea human rights Robert R. King stated it was "supported by some U.S. government funds". As of 2020, Free North Korea Radio's English language website stated that it no longer received funding of any kind from the U.S. government.

Frequency

※South Korean standard time＝ UTC+09:00 * The frequency is as of April, 2020.

References

External links