[imText1]On October 18th, internationally renowned news source, CNN, spoke with Open Radio for North Korea president Ha Tae Kyung regarding the station’s regular broadcasts into North Korea. This report is one in CNN’s “Eye on South Korea” series running in the month of October, which takes an in-depth look into South Korea’s cutting edge IT and robotics industries.
Open Radio for North Korea (ORNK) began sending cultural and educational broadcasts over the border using short-wave radio back in December, 2005 with the aim of fostering the free flow of information from the South to the North. “We have a variety of programs,” explained Ha, “One of which is composed of personal messages for separated families in Korea, including abductees’ families, families of POWs, and North Korean defectors’ families.”
A second program Ha mentioned is a compilation of educational and cultural materials gathered by fourteen participating universities throughout South Korea. The material ranges from love stories of youth, to book reviews and songs, to history discussions and the like. The broadcasts serve as a means through which the Korean people on both sides of the DMZ can reconcile personally, culturally and educationally, and are not used as a medium for political promulgation. Ha stated that ORNK welcomes any and all individuals who wish to participate in sending messages into North Korea.
When asked about the risks to listeners in North Korea should they be discovered tuning into Open Radio broadcasts, Mr. Ha stated, “I think there is only one person in North Korea who can enjoy the freedom of press, the freedom of expression,” referring to Kim Jong Il. He explains that although these freedoms are guaranteed by the North Korean constitution, those caught using the short-wave radios needed to listen to the broadcasts may be imprisoned. However, these days, the radios are more likely to be confiscated by security agents who then resell them into the market. This is because “the radio is quite expensive compared to [a security agent’s wage]; their wage is only one or two dollars a month.”
In regards to whether the North Korean people are likely to believe what they hear in South Korean broadcasts, Mr. Ha replied that “often in a country of dictatorship, the people trust rumors more than their official broadcasts. In the case of our foreign broadcast, because we have multiple [private] sources and the Voice of America – radio for Asia, they can cross-check each with the other. The trust level goes up when they listen to the same story from all these different kinds of broadcasts.”
Readers are invited by ORNK to participate in sending messages to North Korea by writing or sending MP3 sound clips to nkradio@naver.com.
