North Korean Media - Television and Radio

Television and Radio

Radio and TV sets in North Korea are supplied pre-tuned to government stations and radios must be checked and registered with the police, though some North Koreans have bought radios tuned to foreign broadcasts. Stations not tuned to government broadcasts are not permitted. There are four major television stations: Korean Central TV, Mansudae Television (a cultural station only available in the capital), Korean Educational and Cultural Network, and Kaesong Television (targets South Korea). State television is always off air until its 5:00 pm evening news broadcast, except on Sundays which start at 6:00 am, and in emergency events or live events.

All broadcast media in some way promotes the regime's ideologies and positions, such as juche, and regularly condemns actions by South Korea, Japan, Israel, the United States, and other nations. The media in recent years condemns the United Nations, and its position against the country's nuclear program. In recent years, the North Korean media portrays the rest of the world as an "enemy", and claims that every foreign nation, including officials in China and Russia, are conspiring against the regime.

Compared to Western newscasts, North Korean newscasts are very melodramatic in style. KCTV's principal newsreader from 1974 to 2012, Ri Chun-hee, was well known for the wavering, lofty tone she used in praising the nation's leaders and the hateful one she used in denouncing the West. Many North Korean journalists who have defected to the South have noted the contrasts with the more conversational South Korean broadcasting style.

Due to the economic conditions in the country and the short broadcast day, radio is the most widely-used medium. In 2006, there were 16 AM, 14 FM and 11 shortwave radio broadcast stations. Radio stations include Pyongyang Radio, Central Radio and Propaganda Radio – the latter of which purports to be broadcasting from South Korea when it actually broadcasts north of the Korean Demilitarized Zone. According to recent UN data, only 55 of every 1,000 North Koreans have a television set in their home. Some foreign broadcast radio stations (see external links) that target North Korea are often jammed, though this can vary. The authorities designate such foreign media as "enemies of the regime".

South Korean programmes cannot be received in North Korea due to incompatibilities between the television systems (PAL in North Korea and NTSC in South Korea) and the sets being pretuned, but watching them on VHS tapes on VCRs smuggled from China is relatively popular. South Korean soap operas, movies and Western Hollywood movies according to defectors, are said to be spreading at a "rapid rate" throughout North Korea despite the threat of punishment; inspection teams are regularly bribed or allowed to watch the cassettes themselves.

North Korean broadcasts have been picked up in South Korea, and are monitored by the Unification Ministry in Seoul, which handles cross-border relations and media exchanges.

Defectors are also streaming North Korean television broadcasts on the Internet. Korean Central TV stream; best viewed in VLC