North Korean defector-run radio station being shut down due to threats

Less than one month after starting its broadcasts, Radio Free NK is going to get shut down.

"Hello. We're starting up Free NK from today from Seoul, the capital of the Republic of Korea. Toward freedom, democracy and unification."

"For the Rodong Shinmun (the North's official newspaper) to say this and that about the South Korean presidential impeachment is really too funny."

"If democratic politics could be realized in the North as it is in the South, one would have to recognize that the nation, its leaders and the Workers Party would have been impeached hundreds of times over."

With those words, Radio Free NK started its Internet broadcasts to help educate people about the nature of the Pyongyang regime.

But apparently, somebody doesn't want to them to be heard. Groups of young men have come to the building housing the radio station, owned by the Institute of North Korea Studies, to hassle the staff there. I would say "protest" but guards at the building have had to drive the men out, which certainly puts this beyond a simple protest.

The station chief and the staff of the institute have also received threatening phone calls. It has gotten to the point were the head of the Institute has canceled Radio Free NK's lease and they will shut down by the end of the month unless they can find a new home.

Northern-born announcer Jeong Ju-hwa of Radio Free NK (Chosun Ilbo pic)

I went to that bastion of liberty, The Hankyoreh, to see want they thought about this campaign of intimidation against a group who only seek to freely express their opinions. Nothing yet, but I'm sure they have something on the campaign of intimidation in their Korean-language section that will be translated soon.

However the Korea Herald has a piece on it. It states, among other things, that the Norks have been complaining about the station in inter-Korean meetings (as alluded too in the Chosun Ilbo cartoon below):

At the 14th Inter-Korean ministerial talks, Northern delegates shout at their Southern counterparts, "If the 'Free NK Radio' broadcasts by defector reactionaries continue, there won't be any further rounds of talks, comrades! Got it?!" Free NK Radio, an Internet radio station run by North Korean defectors in Seoul, may shut down due to threats made by unidentified individuals against the owner of the building where it's located.

But the Herald article at least ends on a positive note:

"North Korean defectors and South Korean sponsors donated money so that we could buy expensive facilities for broadcasting in their hopes of informing North Koreans of the outside world and thus contributing to democratization of the North," Kim said. "No matter what difficulties we face, we will never stop this."

I hope so, because their message is needed. It seems like South Koreans (at least most of those under 35) are deluding themselves about what Kim Jong-il and his boys are all about. Radio Free NK is at least a little bit of a reality check for those kiddies.

Comments

[KimcheeGI]

Andy,
Protest is a great form of expression if done legally....These guys are breakin the law. I can't believe it was only 22 days. It just goes to show how far reaching and embedded into Korean society the nork agitators have gotten.

KimcheeGI

[Antti]

Hankyoreh does carry a story on this, a piece from Yonhap, but it has not - and most likely will not - express any opinion on the matter.
On the other hand a Yonhap reporter, in a discussion about the reporting concerning the Yongchon accident, demanded that reports on DPRK should be made in accordance with the reconciliation and cooperation mood in the peninsula. (via Ohmynews, in Korean)