DPRK citizens listening to KBS
From the Daily NK:
Pyongyang Residents Secretly Watch KBS 9pm News
“On the Second-Hand TVs Imported from Japan”
By Kwon Jeong Hyun, Dandong of China
8/14/2006
It was found that Pyongyang residents in North Korea have secretly watched KBS 1 TV on high-fidelity receivers smuggled from China and TVs made in Japan.
The North Korean government has prohibited the North Korean people from watching South Korean TV programs. In order to prevent TV or radio waves from South Korea, it has done blanketing. Yet, it has been know that such control have not prevent the North Korean people from secretly watching KBS 1TV programs including 9pm News, and rather such trend has been spreading all over Pyongyang.
On the 30th last month, Kim Jin Ho(pseudonym, 42) staying in China to see his relatives said that, “Receivers smuggled through trucks from China are sold at 120 to 150 yuans (45,000 to 56,000 won of North Korea)at Jangmadangs “, adding “Quiet many people watch South Korean TV programs in Pyongyang”.
Kim told that, “Because of control of the government, people can not see soap dramas. They just usually watch 9pm news to know the trends of the world”, and “Family members and friends talk about them together”.
Kim said that receivers to receive the South Korean TV programs are 3m high and have two-edged looked like bones of fish. Kim said he is watching through the receivers only at night. The receivers are called ‘yagi receiver’, which are usually used as territory receivers. Given that the yagi receivers that have been used in the 70’s and 80’s are impossible for satellite broadcasting, people have received KBS program waves over the truce line.
Park Gi Chang(pseudonym, 34) from Pyongsung, South Pyongan province, said that, “Now if one does not know the trends of the outside world, he or she can not join the conversation” and “We can know about what the North Korean government did”. However, Park said that because of the strict control of the government, we have to be careful.”
Park said that, “I have watched KBS programs on a receiver purchased at Jangmadang after I saw my relatives seeing the programs in Pyongyang.”
Because North Korean TV standard is PAL(Phase Alternating Line) different from NTSC(National Television System Committee), we can not still see the South Korean program on the North Korean TVs. Seeing South Korean programs is possible only on the TVs made in Japan and China. Japanese TV standard is NTSC.
In addition, recently it was known that PAL and NTSC TVs are imported from China and Japan.
North Korean has imported TVs made in Hitachi, Japan since the 80’s in bulk. Some second-hand TVs had often been imported into North Korean, which were replaced by receivers only for North Korea.
A staff in charge of KBS broadcasting transmission said that, “No-person head end or transmission tops around the truce line area send electronic waves, which are possible to reach at Pyongyang”, and “it is surprising that we do not send electronic waves toward North Korea. But Pyongyang residents have received them”.
A researcher at a electronic waves research center under the Ministry of Information and Communication stated that, “Generally, waves sent towards Seoul reach at Cheonan or even Dangjin, the nearly southernmost part of S.Korea”, and “given the nature of waves, North Korea can not prevent the waves from South Korea”.
Kim Gi Hyuk, defector Producer of Free North Korea Broadcasting, said that, “I can remember that in Hoicheon, South Pyongan province, I watched a news announcing that Hwang Jang Yop came to South Korean as a political asylum, and saw a South Korean car advertisement through the receiver”, and “on the rainy day, the waves were better caught in the receivers”.
A staff of VideoLap, a video specialized company, said that, “If TVs’ standard is PAL, screens turn into black so we can not totally watch programs. However, sometimes the TVs work well”.
A government official briefly mentioned, “I heard that some North Korean people watch South Korean TV programs”.
The North Korean people have gotten world news on the broadcastings such as RFA or Korean Social education broadcasting. Furthermore, VCD and TV programs have been spreading. It has made the North Korean people free from informational isolation of the past.
