WASHINGTON, Jan. 15--In response to escalating tensions on the KoreanPeninsula, Radio Free Asia (RFA) will double its Korean-languagebroadcasting to North Korea effective Thursday.
RFA President Richard Richter said RFA's North Korean listeners "havedemonstrated extraordinary ingenuity to secretly hear our broadcasts, and weare pleased that we can now provide them with more programs to help satisfytheir hunger for news from outside their closed society."
RFA Korean-language broadcasting to North Korea will increase Thursday, Jan.16, from two hours to four hours daily. The expanded broadcasts wereauthorized this month by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), inresponse to rising tensions related to Pyongyang's decision to openly resumeits nuclear program.
RFA's shortwave broadcasts in Korean may now be heard from 1400-1700 UTC and 2200-2300 UTC in North Korea andmuch of North Asia. They are also available at www.rfa.org.
The Korean service, one of RFA's nine language services, went on the air onMarch 4, 1997. It broadcasts seven days a week on nine shortwavefrequencies. Programming includes news, cultural reporting, and commentary.The Korean service currently comprises a Washington-based staff of 12,bureaus in Seoul and Tokyo, and stringers around the world.
RFA broadcasts news and information to Asian listeners who lack regularaccess to full and balanced reporting in their domestic media. Through itsbroadcasts and call-in programs, RFA aims to fill a critical gap in thelives of people across Asia. Created by Congress in 1994 and incorporated in1996, RFA currently broadcasts in Burmese, Cantonese, Khmer, Korean, Lao,Mandarin, the Wu dialect, Vietnamese, Tibetan (Uke, Amdo, and Kham), andUyghur. It adheres to the highest standards of journalism and aims toexemplify accuracy, balance, and fairness in its editorial content.