Radio Free Asia to resume Korean broadcasts to reach North Korea
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Korea Service broadcasts would begin later in January.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON - Radio Free Asia (RFA), a US state-funded outlet that largely ceased operations in 2025 amid a Trump administration cost-cutting drive, plans to revive its Korean content as a way to reach reclusive North Korea
“We plan to start producing North Korean digital content later next week,” Mr Rohit Mahajan, RFA’s chief communications officer said, adding that radio programming would follow.
He said the effort would rely on four reporters based in Seoul, the capital of South Korea.
“RFA’s leadership team made the decision to restart the service, based on resources we have on hand… recognising the critical role of our uncensored reporting at a time when so few trusted sources are available to the North Korean people,” he said.
RFA and sister outlets have been financed with congressional funds and overseen by the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM). In 2025, US President Donald Trump appointed Ms Kari Lake, a former news anchor loyal to him, to head USAGM, and she terminated their grants, alleging waste of taxpayer money and anti-Trump bias, forcing mass layoffs.
Mr Trump’s domestic critics called it a strategic blunder in US competition with authoritarian governments including China, and the moves faced legal challenges and push-back in Congress. A bipartisan spending Bill that still requires approval by Congress and Mr Trump, includes US$643 million (S$828.4 million) for USAGM.
Mr Mahajan said Korea Service broadcasts, for which RFA would finance the transmission costs, would begin later in January with one original radio programme currently planned per week.
He said the restart would be financed by congressional funding allocated for the first quarter of the 2026 fiscal year and additional programming would be added once the fiscal new congressional package was enacted.
Mr Mahajan said the Korean Service would join RFA’s Mandarin and Burmese Services, which have already restarted content production and that RFA also plans to restart its Uyghur, Tibetan and Cantonese service into China.
He said that “before the US Agency for Global Media unlawfully terminated our grant”, the Korean Service had close to 50 staffers, about 37 of them in DC and 12 in Seoul.
Asked to comment on RFA’s plans, Ms Lake said in a statement that RFA “had produced almost no broadcasting over the past year” despite receiving nearly US$60 million in funding from USAGM, “while whining and spreading lies that they weren’t being paid to smear Trump Administration efforts at USAGM”.
“If taxpayers are required to fund RFA due to congressional appropriations, we hope RFA will show a modicum of respect to the American taxpayer and start to produce honest, effective coverage that is aligned with American national interests,” she added.
Mr Mahajan said Ms Lake had to date refused to meet with RFA and sister organisations to discuss their work. He said that despite layoffs and furloughs that diminished RFA’s editorial staff by more than 90 per cent, RFA was “fulfilling its congressional mandate to provide accurate, timely news in our coverage areas”.
He said RFA had to pay severance to laid-off staff and remaining funds had been set aside to sustain the organisation and avoid bankruptcy. REUTERS
