Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Joel Simon, 6/26/25
Headline: “A Secret Program Allowed VOA to Broadcast Television into North Korea. Now It’s Gone.”
Subhead: “How the Trump administration undermined its own strategic position.”
“The mission of Voice of America, to “tell America’s story to the world,” is hard to fulfill when you’re broadcasting into the void of North Korea. For decades, VOA’s Korean service struggled to meet its mandate . . .”
“Then, in January of 2023, after a decade of difficult negotiations, VOA reached an agreement with the South Korean government to use state-controlled broadcast towers along the border to send a TV signal deep into the North. . . .”
“But the demise of VOA’s Korean service—along with the USAGM-funded Radio Free Asia, whose programming also targeted North Koreans—means that information-starved North Koreans now have less access to independent news about what is happening in their country and around the world. . .’
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