Radio Broadcasts
TVOM Radio Broadcasts
라디오 방송
Do We Know if Anyone Listens to Short-wave Radio in North Korea?
How do we know that North Koreass are listening to our broadcast? Through the results of both official and unofficial surveys.
South Korean volunteers and North Korean defectors both contribute to our radio broadcasts. Pictured is a recent South Korean volunteer who recorded a sermon of an early Korean Christian.
In fact, whenever we meet North Koreans, we always ask them if they’ve listened to illegal shortwave radio while they were in North Korea, China or Russia.
We recently visited the NK Newcomers facility in South Korea, and we asked the North Koreans at the facility the same question. One defector at the facility said that he indeed listened to shortwave radio, but he wasn’t exactly sure if he heard our broadcasts.
But later in the conversation, he mentioned that one of the things he liked listening to on shortwave radio were the NK songs that had the lyrics changed to Christian lyrics. He mentioned the NK song 우리 당이 제일이요 (Our Party is the Best), which was changed to the Christian version, 하나님이 제일이요 (God is the Best). We were thrilled to hear this because this was one of the songs that we created with our NK defectors and subsequently broadcast on shortwave radio into North Korea! We pulled out our phone and played the song for him and the NK man immediately recognized it.
Listen to <God is the Best> in North Korean!
He went on to say how effective these kinds of songs are, due to the fact that NKs initially think they are listening to the real song, but as they listen closely they notice the lyrics are changed. He also mentioned that our NK defectors who are singing the revised songs sound just like the original singers.
These songs continue to be a core element of our 5 daily shortwave radio broadcasts into North Korea. Our regular TVOM radio content is listed below:
- Sermons of the Early Korean Christians (recorded by SK volunteers and NK students)
- NK Bible (recorded by NK students)
- Christian Hymns (recorded by NK students)
- NK Songs with Christian lyrics (recorded by NK students)
- Miscellaneous programs created by NK defectors.
Please Join with us in Prayer for the Following Requests:
아래 기도 제목으로 함께 기도해주세요.
- Give thanks to the Lord that our radio broadcasts are being heard by more North Koreans than ever before!
- Pray for the North Korean man who listened to our broadcasts. Pray that the seed which was planted in this man through our radio broadcasts would continue to grow now that he is in South Korea.
- Pray that the jamming of our radio broadcasts would decrease. With the addition of two new shortwave radio broadcasts, consistent jamming is becoming more difficult for the North Korean government to continue.
FAQ
자주 묻는 질문
What's new in NK radio ministry?
We’ve recently been updating the way in which we broadcast into NK. We learned that TV news broadcasting in NK has more of the sound of our old style broadcast but radio broadcasting in NK is using warmer personal voices these days. Our broadcast is pioneering the use of a combined NK/SK announcing corps, with NKs and SKs interacting about the Bible and the Christian faith in friendly voices. It’s very revolutionary and we think it will attract a wider range of listeners. We are also excited to be broadcasting between program segments the new NK hymns that were recorded as part of last year’s Hymnal Project. These songs were recorded in the traditional NK style and sung by former members of art performance teams in North Korea. We expect that their traditional voices will touch North Koreans’ hearts through the North Korean classical style hymns.
Listen to God is the Best in North Korean!
Listen to Amazing Grace in North Korean!
Listen to As The Deerin North Korean!
Listen to God Is So Good in North Korean!
What do we broadcast into North Korea?
Our radio broadcasts are produced by our North Korean Underground University students. In the broadcasts the students share Scripture—both in its pure form and in the North Korean-style dramas which hold such interest for our audience. They read from books on Christian persecution to help underground believers there understand why they face the challenges they do and how to bear up under them.
There are also discipleship training segments, songs (often rewritten versions of North Korean “hymns” originally designed to praise Kim Il Sung), and—for the first time this year—“live” segments where our announcers reflect on their own experiences and explain what are often the very new and foreign words and concepts of Scripture.
How many North Koreans listen to the broadcast?
There are an estimated 2 million North Koreans who tune into their illegal radios each evening.
Does the North Korean government try to block our broadcasts?
Our broadcast is the regular target of ultimately unsuccessful blocking attempts of the North Korean government. The blocking attempts are the best indicators we have of how threatening the NK regime considers our broadcast to be. One of the ways that we overcome the blocking is through our active team of engineers who do whatever it takes on a nightly basis to enable the broadcast to be heard.
It is likely that our broadcast is threatening to NK not only because it is Christian but also because it is voiced by North Koreans. Many broadcasts use South Korean voices. Not only does this make the broadcast harder for North Koreans to understand, but the regime likely considers South Korean voices of evangelism to be less threatening than North Korean voices of evangelism.
Do you have any testimonies of North Koreans listening to the radio?
JKS, a North Korean defector, shared her experience of listening to the radio while she was in North Korea, she came to South Korea in 2006. She said that she listened to the radio for 3 months with her friends just before she left the North. She said that it was quite easy to receive the gospel radio programs and other radio programs from South Korea because she lived in a border area. Here is the story of JKS’ experience of listening to the radio in North Korea:
One night, we closed the door and listened to the radio under the blanket. At the moment that I listened to the radio from South Korea, it was not only amazing but also tears pricked my eyes because of our nation’s state of division.From that point on, I kept listening to radio broadcasts from South Korea with my father. We realized that Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un and their followers are untruthful. I sometimes got furious with them.Later, after I arrived in South Korea, when I talked with my home folks, there were some people who also listened to South Korean radio broadcasts in North Korea. They said that they covered themselves with blankets and agreed that the best time for listening to the radio was from 10 pm to 2:30 am.