North Korea Halts Radio Broadcasts Believed to Send Coded Messages to Spies

The North Korean radio station was previously known for broadcasting coded numbers.
North Korea Halts Radio Broadcasts Believed to Send Coded Messages to Spies
Flags of North Korea, rear, and South Korea, front, flutter in the wind as seen from the border area between two Koreas in Paju, South Korea, on Aug. 9, 2021. Im Byung-shik/Yonhap via AP, File
Aldgra Fredly
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North Korea has halted operation of a state-run radio station believed to be used for sending coded messages to its “spies” in South Korea, according to a report. This came after North Korea called the neighboring country its “principal enemy.”

The state-run Pyongyang Radio, along with its website, appeared to have ceased operation on Jan. 13, South Korean media outlet Yonhap News Agency reported.

According to the report, the North Korean radio station was previously known for broadcasting coded numbers, which are believed to be coded messages intended for its agents in South Korea.

This came as North Korean officials “in charge of affairs with enemies” held a meeting on Jan. 13 to decide on readjusting organizations involved in promoting North–South relations, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

These organizations include the North Side Committee for Implementing the June 15 Joint Declaration, the North Headquarters of the Pan-National Alliance for Korea’s Reunification, and the Consultative Council for National Reconciliation.

The meeting also called for a reunification policy that identifies “South Korean puppets” seeking the “collapse of the DPRK’s power” and “unification by absorption” as the “main enemy of the DPRK to be completely wiped out.”

DPRK stands for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Since the 1950–53 Korean War ended in a stalemate, both nations have had policies that treat each other differently than other countries.

That has included relying on special agencies and ministries for inter-Korean relations rather than their foreign ministries and embracing policies for a future peaceful reunification, usually envisioning a single state with two systems.

North Korea Vows ‘Decisive Policy Change’

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers a speech during a year-end plenary meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party, which was held in Pyongyang, North Korea, between Dec. 26, 2023, and Dec. 30, 2023. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers a speech during a year-end plenary meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party, which was held in Pyongyang, North Korea, between Dec. 26, 2023, and Dec. 30, 2023. Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP

However, in remarks at a year-end party meeting on Dec. 30, 2023, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said peaceful reunification is impossible and that the government would make a “decisive policy change” in relations with the “enemy.”

He said the relationship between the two Koreas is “no longer a kinship or homogeneous relationship but has completely become a relationship between two hostile countries, two belligerents at war.”
On Jan. 5, North Korea suddenly fired into the Yellow Sea more than 200 artillery shells, all of which landed in the waters near Baekryeong Island in the maritime Northern Limit Line (NLL) and north of Yeonpyeong Island in South Korea.

While the shelling caused no damage, those areas are marine buffer zones where shelling is prohibited under the North–South military agreement.

People watch a television screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of North Korea’s artillery firing, in Seoul, South Korea, on Jan. 6, 2024. (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
People watch a television screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of North Korea’s artillery firing, in Seoul, South Korea, on Jan. 6, 2024. Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

“This is an act of provocation that escalates tension and threatens peace on the Korean peninsula,” South Korea’s Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said in a statement.

Responding to the provocations, South Korea sent troops to the two islands and held an artillery drill.

A spokesman for the U.S. Department of State condemned North Korea’s firing of artillery shells as a “provocative act” and called on Pyongyang to act with “restraint and not to lead to geographic instability” and to engage in a dialogue to ease the tense situation.

The United States will continue to work with South Korea and Japan to strengthen its military containment capabilities, he said.

In November 2023, South Korea’s Defense Ministry detected the reconstruction of North Korean guard posts along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) a day after Pyongyang vowed to restore “all military measures” previously halted under a 2018 inter-Korean accord.

South Korea has also suspended part of the accord that limits its reconnaissance and surveillance operations along the DMZ after North Korea defied warnings against launching a spy satellite into orbit.

Jon Sun, Lisa Bian, and Reuters contributed to this report.
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