Lee Si-young, head of the Free North Korea Radio station, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at her office in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Nov. 17, 2025.
For years, outside news in North Korea has reached citizens through secret radios, smuggled devices, and late-night tuning into foreign broadcasts. But that fragile flow of information is now shrinking fast. A sudden collapse in major U.S. and South Korean radio services has left small defector-run networks fearing they may be the last remaining voices reaching North Koreans.
Foreign Radio Into North Korea Goes Quiet
Every day for two hours, Lee Si-young broadcasts uncensored foreign news into North Korea. Her listeners risk imprisonment if caught. Lee runs Free North Korea Radio (FNK) from Seoul, and for two decades, she has tried to bypass Pyongyang’s information wall.
But the silence from once-powerful broadcasters now alarms her.
Two major stations — Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) — stopped their Korean-language radio services earlier this year. Both relied heavily on U.S. government funding. The cuts followed a March executive order by former President Donald Trump, which dismantled the agency overseeing these networks. Trump claimed they had “liberal bias” or wasted public money.
A report by 38 North found that overall foreign radio broadcasts to North Korea have dropped by 85%.
South Korea Also Cuts Information Flow
South Korea’s liberal government under President Lee Jae Myung has also pulled back its messaging to the North.
Seoul halted cross-border broadcasts, shut down loudspeakers that once blasted K-pop and world news, and banned the familiar activist balloons carrying leaflets and USB drives. The goal, officials say, is to reduce tensions and avoid provoking Pyongyang.
FNK now operates as one of the very few remaining channels delivering outside news in North Korea — but with only five staff members, all defectors, the station feels the pressure.
“We fear North Koreans have been abandoned,” Lee said.
New Digital Efforts for North Koreans Living Abroad
Despite the shrinking radio landscape, a new digital project has emerged to keep access to outside information alive.
Defector-turned-lawyer Lee Young-hyeon launched a website and mobile app this month under the Korea Internet Studio label. The content targets tens of thousands of North Koreans abroad — laborers, students, diplomats, and their families — who can access the global internet, unlike citizens inside the North.
The platform focuses on practical knowledge:
- how North Korean students can succeed in foreign schools
- what migrant laborers can buy for families back home
- basic financial tools, including cryptocurrency
The aim is not to spark political upheaval, Lee said, but to show North Koreans “that a freer world exists.”
Harsh Crackdowns Inside North Korea
Many experts doubt that Pyongyang will ease information restrictions anytime soon.
Since 2020, the regime has enforced tougher laws against foreign cultural influence. The Reactionary Ideology and Culture Rejection Law imposes:
- up to 10 years’ hard labor for consuming or spreading foreign media
- up to five years for using unauthorized foreign radio or TV signals
This has made access to outside news in North Korea even more dangerous.
Do Foreign Broadcasts Make a Difference?
Some South Korean officials argue that radio broadcasts and loudspeakers belong to a bygone Cold War era. When Seoul suspended its “Voice of Freedom” broadcast earlier this year, the Defense Ministry said it hoped to ease military tensions.
North Korea has also turned off its own border loudspeakers and stopped jamming South Korean signals — but it still refuses to resume talks with Seoul or Washington.
Yet defectors insist foreign broadcasts do matter.
Before his defection in 2003, Paek Yosep secretly listened to South Korean radio and learned about anti-government protests — a concept unimaginable in North Korea. Music from loudspeakers across the border became his escape during military service.
FNK staffer Kim Ki-sung said he listened to South Korean radio for a decade before defecting in 1999. Learning about South Korea’s wealth, loans to the Soviet Union, and heavy traffic shocked him — and eventually pushed him to flee.
“The broadcasts were addictive,” Kim said. “Even if just one person listens, we must continue.”
The Future of Outside News in North Korea
With major broadcasters gone, the struggle to deliver outside news in North Korea falls increasingly on small groups, defectors, and new digital platforms.
Whether radio waves or mobile apps, these efforts now represent the last fragile links connecting isolated citizens to the outside world.
