US cuts leave North Koreans reliant on state propaganda

The slashing of support for Voice of America and Radio Free Asia has seen foreign broadcasts into North Korea drop by as much as 80 per cent

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North Korean troops march in a parade commemorating the Korean War armistice in Pyongyang on Sunday. Photo: Korean Central News Agency/Reuters

Published: 8:00am, 29 Jul 2025

With the flick of a switch in Washington, a lifeline of independent news into North Korea has gone dark, prompting warnings that it will leave the country’s 26 million people more isolated than ever.

The abrupt halt to funding, passed by the US Senate earlier this month, ends long-standing American support for cross-border broadcasts and clandestine media channels that provided North Koreans with one of the few opportunities to access information unfiltered by state propaganda.

Among the most prominent casualties are Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, US-funded broadcasters that have for decades delivered Korean-language news, human rights reporting and glimpses of life beyond North Korea’s borders.

“In the long term, we risk knowing less about the human rights situation in North Korea, as less and less information will be coming out of the country,” said Teppei Kasai, Asia programme officer at Human Rights Watch Japan.

“The international community, including Japan, will then naturally have to rely on official statements by the North Korean government, which don’t carry a lot of credibility.”

The Voice of America headquarters near the US Capitol in Washington on March 17. Photo: EPA-EFE

Voice of America and Radio Free Asia have slashed broadcasts into North Korea by as much as 80 per cent since May, following an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump in March calling for the elimination of their parent organisation, the United States Agency for Global Media.

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