North Korea Abruptly Halts 'Pyongyang Broadcasting' Sending Orders to South Korean Spies

Organizing Various Organizations and Groups for Civil Exchange

North Korea's state-run radio station for South Korea, 'Pyongyang Broadcasting,' which used to transmit instructions to South Korean spies, has not been received as of the 13th. Analysts suggest this appears to be part of North Korea's reorganization of its agencies dealing with South Korea.

Yonhap News and others reported that the broadcast has not been received since the afternoon of the same day. Access to Pyongyang Broadcasting's homepage, 'Minjok Daedan-gyeol,' is also unavailable. Pyongyang Broadcasting is known to have been operated by North Korea's agencies targeting South Korea.

North Korea's Kim Jong-un Inspects Key Military Factory
[Photo by Chosun Central TV / Yonhap News Archive Photo]

Since the 1960s, Pyongyang Broadcasting has transmitted broadcasts inciting the people's democratic revolution to South Korean residents. In the past, it also broadcasted number code (random number) messages issuing instructions to South Korean spies. The number code broadcasts involved saying, "From now on, we will inform the remote education university physics review assignments for the No. 27 exploration team members," followed by calling out book pages and numbers. The number code broadcasts were suspended in 2000 and resumed in 2016.

Some speculate that North Korea stopped broadcasting in line with Kim Jong-un's change in unification policy and instructions to reorganize agencies dealing with South Korea. On the external propaganda site 'Nae Nara,' which uses North Korea's national domain (.kp), sections emphasizing unification have disappeared.

North Korean propaganda websites targeting South Korea, such as Uri Minjokkkiri, Tongil-ui Meori, Ryugyong, Chosun Today, and Ryomyong, which use .com domains, have also been inaccessible since the 11th. It is highly likely that closures or reorganizations are underway in connection with the reorganization of agencies dealing with South Korea.

Kim Jong-un Inspects Key Military Factory "The Republic of Korea is Our Main Enemy"
Photo by Pyongyang Korean Central News Agency / Yonhap News

At the same time, North Korea appears to have begun reorganizing various organizations and groups for civilian exchanges with South Korea. Korean Central News Agency reported on the same day, "A rally of cadres in the anti-South sector was held on the 12th to thoroughly implement the policy shift toward South Korea presented by Comrade Kim Jong-un at the 9th plenary meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Party."

At the rally, it was announced, "All related organizations such as the June 15 Joint Declaration Implementation North Side Committee, the Pan-National Alliance for Korea's Reunification North Headquarters, the National Reconciliation Council, and the Dangun National Unification Council, which were established as solidarity organizations for improving inter-Korean relations and peaceful reunification, will be completely disbanded."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.