In an article entitled, “Machinations aimed at internal interference will not be spared condemnation,” the state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun argues, “One important factor in why the Iraqi army and people lost without a fight was because they fell for the persistent radio propaganda fed to them by the US.”
“The US used ‘Freedom Radio” and “Radio Free Europe” to transmit their values and way of life with the aim of toppling socialist countries in Europe […] In 1996, Radio Free Asia was established using money from the Central Intelligence Agency and is now creating havoc 15 hours per day among the people in Asian countries,” the article continues.
The article further notes that “[t]he US has spread its anti-socialist ideology and culture far and wide while persistently interfering with the internal affairs of sovereign countries and pursuing the demise of their governments […] We must stand up to the US imperialists’ ideological and cultural invasion and psychological machinations and destroy them completely.”
North Korea’s remarks concerning radio broadcasts comes after the US Senate passed the North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act of 2017 last month. The Act aims to greatly increase the volume of external information entering North Korea.
In regards to the Act, the Rodong Sinmun states, “The US has made it official that it will increase efforts to send capitalist culture into North Korea […] The machinations aimed at invading North Korea with US imperialist ideology and culture will fail.”
The North Korean authorities have reportedly increased crackdowns on those who listen to foreign broadcasts. In April, Daily NK reported that North Korean law enforcement agencies were conducting mass searches of homes where people own radios and placing tape over the radio tuners to try to prevent them from tuning into foreign broadcasts.
