KBS World () is the international broadcasting division of the South Korean broadcast television network

Korean Broadcasting System The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS; ) is the public broadcasting, national broadcaster of South Korea. Founded in 1927, it is one of the leading South Korean television and radio broadcasters under the government of South Korea. The KBS ope ...

. The division operates KBS World TV,

KBS World Radio KBS World Radio (; formerly Radio Korea and Radio Korea International) is the official international broadcasting station of South Korea. Owned by the Korean Broadcasting System, the station broadcasts news and information in 11 languages: Korea ...

, and .

History

The foreign-language radio broadcast from KBS (before its restructure into a public broadcaster in March 1973) was started as "The Voice of Free Korea" in 1953. It officially became a part of KBS in July 1968. The station was renamed Radio Korea in March 1973, and then Radio Korea International in August 1994. In July 2003, KBS World, an international television channel aimed at Koreans abroad, started broadcasting. In March 2005, Radio Korea International became KBS World Radio. Most of the programs are subtitled for the audience they are broadcast to, in languages such as English, Chinese, Malay, Vietnamese, and Indonesian.

Services

Radio

KBS World Radio is South Korea's sole foreign language promotional broadcast for the entire world. Its programming features news, culture, music, entertainment, as well as Korean lessons. KBS World Radio currently broadcasts in

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overseas Vietnamese, Vietnamese people living outside Vietna ...

and

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

Television

KBS World's TV programming is sourced from KBS's domestic television services, with older drama series aired in the case where latest drama series has sold to other licensors outside South Korea, such as

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

and even (for Southeast Asia, Middle East and South Africa) Viu or (for all other markets) Viki/

Kocowa Kocowa (stylized as KOCOWA) is an American over-the-top streaming service headquartered in Los Angeles as a joint venture between the top three Korean broadcast networks: KBS, MBC and SBS along with SK Telecom, who co-founded in South Korea, ...

. It mainly broadcast in Korean, but subtitles in English, Malay and Chinese are also provided. There are four separate general entertainment KBS World services operated by KBS's subsidiaries tailored to specific markets: the Japanese version of KBS World, operated by KBS Japan, targets Japanese audiences, the Indonesian version of KBS World, operated by OKTN, targets Indonesian audiences, while

KBS America KBS America () is an American television channel operated by the U.S. subsidiary of the Korean Broadcasting System The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS; ) is the public broadcasting, national broadcaster of South Korea. Founded in 1927, ...

(in English) and KBS Latino (in Spanish, Portuguese) target audiences in North and South America such as Mexico and Brazil. Additionally, KBS World 24 was a news and documentary channel that was available for free online. On July 1, 2021, the channel was rebrand as KBS Korea, focusing on Korean programming from

KBS1 KBS 1TV is a South Korean free-to-air television channel that launched on 31 December 1961 and is owned by Korean Broadcasting System. The channel offers more serious programming than its sister channel KBS2, and airs with no commercials. Hi ...

, mainly on News and Culture, tailored for Overseas Koreans.

References

External links

* * {{Korean Broadcasting System 2003 establishments in South Korea International broadcasters Korean Broadcasting System subsidiaries Korean-language television stations Television channels and stations established in 2003 Television channels in South Korea YouTube channels launched in 2007