One of the major broadcasters in South Korea, SBS’s 8pm news broadcasted, ‘Secret communication with family members in North Korea through cellular phones’ is raising protests of the North Korean defectors.
Regarding what had been broadcast, North Korean defectors strongly protested that “Cellular phone communication with the people inside North Korea was a well known fact. However, for a South Korean terrestrial TV channel to broadcast this reality is the same as a statement pleading the Kim Jong Il regime to control such secret cell phone communications.”
SBS broadcasted a clip in which Mr. Kim, a North Korean defector who resides in Cheongju, South Korea, talks with his younger brothers and sister in North Korea with his cellular phone. The narration said, “it is estimated that more than three thousand cellular phones went into North Korea along the Sino-Korean border.”
The clip continued with the ‘SBS’ reporting team contacting Kim’s brother in North Korea and asks, “there are rumors about putting down portraits of Kim Jong Il, what is going on?” with the narration saying, “they tell us even about sensitive political issues without any difficulties.”
The narration continued, “After hiding in China for one to two years, we could buy cellular phones through Chinese Koreans and send them into North Korea” and the program reported on the ways cell phones go into North Korea through an interview with Mr. Kim.
The Association of North Korean Defectors (President, Yoon Sung Soo) officially sent a statement of protest to Kim Chun Heung, the SBS reporter responsible for the news on January 10, and will act accordingly to the reporter’s response.
