President Moon Jae-in introduces his Pungsan dogs to BBC Seoul correspondent Laura Bicker during an interview at the presidential office in Seoul on Oct. 12, 2018, in this photo released by the office. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un gifted the dogs to Moon to mark their talks in Pyongyang from Sept. 18-20. The dogs were both born in 2017 in the North Korean county of Pungsan. (Yonhap)
I am a big supporter of radio programming into North Korea because it is a proven way to challenge the Kim regime’s propaganda machine within the country. Many defectors have said that listening to illegal radio programs is how they learned about the outside world and inspired them to defect. The BBC is now going to join the Korean Broadcasting System, the Voice of America and Radio Free Asia as producers of North Korean radio programming:
The BBC World Service will launch a daily radio program aimed at North Korea as part of its biggest expansion since the 1940s.
The Korean service will be transmitted in short wave in a bid to evade the communist regime’s government censors, the Financial Times reported.
It’s one of 11 new language services announced Wednesday by the British Broadcasting Corp. as part of an expansion financed by a $360 million funding boost from the British government. [Stars & Stripes]
The details about why a BBC reporter, Rupert Winfield-Hayes was detained in North Korea have now been revealed. It seems pretty clear that he was made an example of to warn other international media figures from reporting negatively about the country:
A group of officials in dark Mao suits walked in and sat opposite. The older one spoke first.
“Mr Rupert,” he said, “this meeting can be over quickly and simply, it will depend on your attitude.”
I was told that my reporting had insulted the Korean people, and that I needed to admit my mistakes. They produced copies of three articles that had been published on the BBC website, as I reported on the visit of the Nobel laureates. (……….)
“Do you think Korean people are ugly?” the older man asked.
“No,” I answered.
“Do you think Korean people have voices like dogs?”
“No,” I answered again.
“Then why do you write these things?!” he shouted.
I was confused. What could they mean? One of the articles was presented to me, the offending passage circled in black marker pen:
“The grim-faced customs officer is wearing one of those slightly ridiculous oversized military caps that they were so fond of in the Soviet Union. It makes the slightly built North Korean in his baggy uniform comically top heavy. “Open,” he grunts, pointing at my mobile phone. I dutifully punch in the passcode. He grabs it back and goes immediately to photos. He scrolls through pictures of my children skiing, Japanese cherry blossom, the Hong Kong skyline. Apparently satisfied he turns to my suitcase. “Books?” he barks. No, no books. “Movies?” No, no movies. I am sent off to another desk where a much less gruff lady is already looking through my laptop.”
“Are they serious?” I thought. They had taken “grim-faced” to mean “ugly”, and the use of the word “barks” as an indication that I thought they sounded like dogs.
“It doesn’t mean what you think it means.” I protested.
The older man squinted.
“I have studied English literature,” he said. “Do you think I do not understand what these expressions mean?
For two hours they demanded I confess my mistakes. Finally the older man got up to leave.
“It is clear that your attitude is going to make this difficult,” he said. “We have no choice but to carry out a full investigation.” [BBC]
You can read the rest at the link, but it makes you wonder why journalists even bother going to North Korea when it is pretty clear that what they publish has to be self censored to avoid detainment and future access to North Korea.
Via One Free Korea comes this news that the BBC may begin radio broadcasting into North Korea:
This is just asking for a caption contest!
The BBC is planning a new North Korea service to give the totalitarian state’s 25 million people an alternative to Kim Jong-un’s propaganda.
In a move that could plunge the corporation into confrontation with the North Korean dictator, the World Serviceis examining how to set up a special news channel that will get around Pyongyang’s ban on foreign media broadcasts.
The plan has echoes of Western broadcasts into the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries during the Cold War, when the BBC, Radio Free Europe and Voice of America all broadcasted to listeners behind the Iron Curtain.
However, it is likely to spark fury from Pyongyang’s volatile leadership, and could lead to the British embassy in Pyongyang being targeted for protests or being shut down altogether.
It could also put Britain in the firing line for North Korean-led cyberattacks, such as the one that targeted Sony Pictures last year over its film “The Interview”, which lampooned Kim Jong-un. [BBC]
You can read the rest at the link, but I have been a supporter of radio broadcasts into North Korea for years. Hopefully the BBC follows through with this, but according to One Free Korea they may be having second thoughts. So is the BBC being scared off by cyberattack threats?
