For the first time, subscribers around the world can pay to watch North Korean state-run TV.
Called Shiwani TV, the service will livestream Korean Central Television from a pro-North Korean organization based in Poland called Chollima Front for 19 euros (US$21) a month, which includes radio as well.
The programs typically include propaganda about supreme leader Kim Jong Un or other top officials, bad news about other countries – thought to instill fear among North Koreans that the outside world is largely unsafe – and stories confirming the policies that the government wants to push.
For just radio service from the radio stations Korean Central Broadcasting and Voice of Korea, it’s 9 euros ($10) a month. The content will be digitized from their satellite and shortwave broadcasts and streamed online.
“We will actually offer our service to everyone who pays for it,” a representative of Shiwani TV told RFA Korean, asking not to be identified by name. “We believe that everyone should have access to high-quality television, regardless of their location, political views, party or organizational affiliation, or contacts.”
The service will be available worldwide, including in the United States as well as in South Korea, where it may run counter to national security laws and therefore be illegal to access – which the Shinwani TV official said shouldn’t be a problem.
‘Technically illegal’
“In South Korea … it’s technically illegal to access content from North Korea, but [the laws] date back to 1948 before the internet era,” the representative said. “People aren’t prosecuted for private consumption of North Korean content these days.”
Additionally, Shiwani TV is not under South Korean jurisdiction as it is based in Poland, the representative said.
The plan has the support of North Korean authorities, he said. The North Korean Embassy in Poland is aware of the plan and has reacted very positively, he added.
The service may fill gaps left by the closure in January of two North Korean state-run news websites, when Kim Jong Un called for a “fundamental turnaround” in its stance toward reunification, reversing its previous campaign to be reunified with the South.
"They are aware of the service, and their acknowledgment stems from the understanding that it has become increasingly difficult to find high-quality television recordings online since the closure of Korean websites uriminzokkiri.com, dprktoday.com, etc.," the Shiwani TV official added.
The representative said the service will have no contractual relationship with North Korean authorities, the embassy, or any North Korean national, the organization will not pay video usage fees. He also said that the organization is confident it will meet its subscription goals, without elaborating what those goals were.
‘No one is interested’
On its website, Chollima Front says it is an independent organization for the study of North Korean culture and its founding Juche ideology of self-reliance, regardless of politics. The organization says it fights against disinformation while sharing reliable news about North Korea.
Chollima Front has approximately 12 members, mostly Polish, but also includes Germans and Canadians.
“Chollima Front is very small organization whose members are a few young Polish people with communist political views,” a Polish North Korea and East Asia studies scholar, who requested anonymity for personal safety, told RFA, “They are in touch with North Korean Embassy in Warsaw.”
He emphasized that the organization does not have much influence.
“No one in Poland is interested in North Korean culture, especially in comparison to South Korean culture,” he said.
The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to RFA’s inquiry about whether it was aware of Shiwani TV’s launch plan.
The Polish Embassy in the United States thanked RFA for the information regarding the launch of the service and said it has alerted the “appropriate parties.”
Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.