The North Korean Army’s main anti-socialism inspection division is going door to door in the northern province of Ryanggang to make sure that hardwired propaganda speakers installed in each home are in working order, residents told Radio Free Asia.
The speakers deliver messages from the local government and play propaganda songs, and residents are told that they are critical in emergencies, including during wartime.
A resident of Ryanggang province, who requested anonymity for security reasons, told RFA that although the speakers were inspected in March by the local post office, this time it is more serious because Unified Command 82 is the inspecting agency.
Unified Command 82 was established in August 2021, when the army merged several anti-socialism inspection units.
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The resident explained that since Oct. 11, the government has been broadcasting patriotic war songs, and ordered that residents listen to the daily broadcasts dutifuly.
“Starting on Oct. 21, Unified Command 82 went around each household in every neighborhood-watch unit to inspect whether there was a cable broadcast speaker and whether the residents were listening to the cable broadcast properly,” he said.
Two days later, the broadcasts shifted tone, naming citizens who either did not have a speaker installed, or who weren’t actively listening to the propaganda broadcasts when inspectors came around, he said.
“Houses without speakers are advised to immediately purchase and install speakers through the post office,” said the resident.
According to the resident, the speakers must be turned on from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. Messages from the local governemnt that are not aired on radio or television come through the hardwired speakers, which are called the “Third Network” in North Korea.
Based on the Soviet “radiotochka” network that hardwired a speaker in every home to a central broadcast location so that messages could be transmitted without sending them over the air, the broadcasts can include local news and mobilization instructions.
“This broadcast inspection is the second inspection conducted this year, with the last one in March. the resident said. ”Whenever the political situation becomes tense, the Central Committee inspects cable broadcasting to scare residents.”
A resident who works in agriculture in the province told RFA that there were many households in rural areas where the Third Network is not working. During the economic collapse and famine of the 1990s, the government ran out of resources to maintain cable connections to each home, and in some cases, the wires were cut by residents who sold them for scrap.
He said authorities were holding emergency meetings to address the issue. The key issue was funding, so some officials proposed that each house should donate edible ferns and omija, a kind of berry used in tea.
“If each household offers 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of dried ferns or 5 kilograms (11 pounds) of dried omija, the local governments can [sell them] to purchase broadcasting lines from China to restore cable broadcasting,” he said.
But other officials thought the scheme was not realistic, considering that the rural residents have enough trouble making ends meet as it is.
“The meeting did not reach any conclusion and ended with the words, ‘We will severely punish the rural management committee and party secretaries who fail to restore cable broadcasting by the end of November,” the agricultural resident said. “There are threats every year that rural officials will be punished over the restoration of cable broadcasting, but no actual punishment has ever been carried out.”
Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong.