The Japanese government will launch a radio channel for North Korea focusing on Japanese citizens abducted by Pyongyang. A Japanese government official yesterday said the channel will be launched in July and is different from the privately-run Shiokaze channel that started broadcasting for North Korea in late March. Shiokaze is run by an activist group calling itself Investigation Commission on Missing Japanese Probably Related to North Korea.
The new state-run Japanese radio will focus on the Japanese government’s position on the abduction issue, messages from victims’ families, and efforts to have them sent back to Japan. Shiokaze recently reported the new channel would carry official messages about the Japanese government’s position.
A staffer with Free North Korea Radio, a South Korean radio station targeting North Korea, said the state-run Japanese channel will broadcast for an hour a day, half in Korean and half in Japanese. The radio is under the supervision of the Japanese Foreign Ministry and a Cabinet committee dealing with the abduction question.
South Korea’s only official radio channel targeting North Korea is KBS Social Education Service. But the channel is mostly educational and targets not only North Korea but also Korean nationals living in northern regions such as the Maritime Province of Siberia and China. In South Korea, there are four civilian radios for North Korea led by North Korean refugees or activists for human rights in North Korea, including Free North Korea Radio and Open Radio for North Korea, which transmit their programs using frequencies of a British shortwave service provider.
Kim Seung-min, the founder of Free North Korea Radio, said the launch of the state-run Japanese radio is a graphic example showing the Abe administration’s “determination to pressure North Korea.”
(Source: Chosun.com/Zacahrias Liangas/Cumbre)