The Japanese Mainichi newspaper reported on the 27th that North Korea’s state-operated radio broadcast gave the following criticism during the New York Philharmonic’s performance, “The U.S.’ present wartime strategy towards Chosun (North Korea) has entered a dangerous stage.”
The newspaper used the reporting of Japan’s Radio Press, relaying, “The two radio broadcasts, Chosun Central News Agency and Pyongyang Broadcasting did not relay the New York Philharmonic’s performance. The diffusion of North Korean TV is low, so the number of citizens who heard the performance was not very high.”
According to the newspaper, the North Korean authorities relayed the performance via TV which is relatively difficult to access, but radio, to which civilians can easily listen, did not air the performance, but rather broadcasted comments emphasizing “anti-American ideology.”
In North Korea, not only enterprise offices, farms, and People’s Units but each household is also equipped with cable through which radio broadcasts are transmitted. People subscribe to TV over frequency, but radio broadcasts are subscribed to via cable signals. The citizens call the cable radiocasts, the “Third Broadcast.”
The observation can be made that North Korean authorities intercepted the exposure of average civilians to American culture and tried to use the New York Philharmonic as a propagandistic tool against the world.
Radio Press, under the auspices of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is an independent foundation and expert communication agency which monitors real-time radio and television broadcasts from the former Soviet Union, China, and North Korea and relays news to the Japanese government and media.
