Jay Lefkowitz, Special US Envoy for Human Rights in North Korea, yesterday appeared before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Environment. He made a long statement to the Committee, which included the subject of international broadcasting:
“Last year, the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) provided increased resources to the Korean services of Voice of America and Radio Free Asia. For the next fiscal year beginning this October, the Administration has requested a significant increase for these services, from $4.6 to $8 million. Along with many other improvements, this increase will allow Radio Free Asia to begin transmitting in medium wave, which we believe will be a highly effective supplement to its current shortwave broadcasting. I ask the Committee to support this important increase.
“Appropriated funds have also contributed partially to broadcasts by independent groups. Some of the most persuasive voices are not those of US government employees, but private citizens who can sympathize with those living under repression. These include the voices of Korean democracy activists, defectors from North Korea, and Korean-Americans. Some Japanese groups also have limited broadcasts that attempt to reach those abducted in Japan by the North Korean government.”
(Source: US State Department/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)