Radio show sends pop songs to N. Korea

Kwak Young-il, center in the back row, host of Pops Freedom, and guests pose for a photo after a recording on July 24 at KBS studio. To his left is Han Ok-jung, who left North Korea nine years ago. With a guitar is Kang In-bong, and the others are KBS voice actors. (Photo : The Korea Times/Kim Se-jeong)

A South Korean radio music show has a mission of using English pop songs to deliver the message of freedom to North Koreans.

“Our target audience is people inside North Korea,” Ohh Soon-wha, producer of “Pops Freedom” on the state broadcaster KBS, told The Korea Times, Tuesday. “We’re trying to spread the value of freedom through music.”

In the studio, the show’s host Kwak Young-il, and Han Ok-jung, a defector from North Korea, and a couple of other guests gathered to tape “Sing Along” that airs every Saturday. Pops Freedom is aired on KBS’ radio channel for international audiences, particularly North Koreans.

The song that was chosen for the day was “Oh! Carol” by Neil Sedaka.

“Darling I love you tho’ you treat me cruel,” the host read the lyrics, which the guests repeated in unison.

“Ms. Han, what would you call a boyfriend in North Korea?” the host asked in Korean.

“I’d call him Dong-mu,” she replied.

“Really? Doesn’t that to refer to your colleagues or other friends?’ guitarist Kang In-bong asked.

“Yes, but you can call your boyfriend Dong-mu as well. And if it’s a person for whom you have more admiration and respect, you can say Dong-ji.”

The producer said in each show there’s something new to learn about North Korea.

Han also said kids learn to say the phrase “Marshal Kim Jong-il! Thank you” as their very first phrase in English before they learn anything else.

Having lived in the South almost nine years now, she takes pride in the show — not only because she is a guest, but she also “likes the idea of penetrating this sort of program into North Korea.”

Keeping track of how many people in North Korea actually listen to the radio show is not easy, and the situation is the same for other radio stations designed for people in the North Korea.

“But, we believe there are a growing number of listeners, especially in cities like Pyongyang. Anecdotes from defectors indicate that now more people have radios,” the producer said.

In a poverty-stricken country, a radio is a luxurious item to possess. Plus, radios circulated in North Korea were manipulated by the regime to block radio signals from abroad. But as the producer mentioned, the situation seems to be changing.

More people travel to China come into contact with radio programs like Pops Freedom. They either smuggle a radio that can receive international broadcasts, or learn to modify the radio so that it can detect overseas signals.

The producer said another guest on the show who also came from North Korea had listened to KBS radio in Pyongyang. “He said he had heard South Korean music on the radio, and learnt to sing along with the guitar before he defected.” He was not available for this article.

The radio signal — AM 972 kHZ — reaches parts of Russia, China, Japan and Mongolia, meaning that North Korean defectors in those areas can listen as well. The show airs everyday between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Han said she learns a lot from the show. “I have always been a bit afraid of English, but with Pops Freedom, I gradually overcame it.” In the first few years, she got so frustrated with English.

“At work in a restaurant, people would ask me to bring them ‘mayonnaise’ or a ‘fork,’ but I had no idea what they were asking for.” There are no separate words to describe mayonnaise or fork in Korean. <The Korea Times/Kim Se-jeong>

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