Home > Opinion > Columns

Is deterrence toward North Korea a bargaining chip for dialogue?

Published: 30 Jul. 2025, 00:02

Ko Jung-ae

The author is the editor-in-chief at the JoongAng Sunday.

Eleven years ago in London, I met a group of activists campaigning for the BBC to launch a Korean-language service. Among them was BBC journalist Dan Damon. That March, they even produced a trial broadcast of an “unofficial BBC Korean Service.” The panel included several North Korean defectors, and the first topic was football. They talked about Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Bolton and Sunderland. Someone joked, “Do you think Kim Jong-un has a favorite team?” They all shouted, “No!” The broadcast was clumsy but full of passion.

Damon explained that the BBC had historically delivered information to countries where free access to news was suppressed. He said the trial broadcast was meant to spark the idea. He had spent years covering Eastern Europe under the Soviet system.

Minister of Unification Chung Dong-young is seen during his visit to the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom on July 25, in his first official act since taking office. [YONHAP]

At the time, the BBC itself was hesitant. Its license fee had been frozen since 2010, affecting the budget. Parliament eventually took the lead. Lord David Alton, a peer who had visited North Korea multiple times, formed a parliamentary group to push the idea. He also proposed the Korean service.

Two and a half years later, the BBC followed through. It expanded its foreign language broadcasts to include Korean, sending 30-minute nightly radio news programs into North Korea on shortwave and medium wave. The British government provided support. Lord Alton declared, “Accessing foreign media in North Korea is banned and can lead to brutal punishment. Today, the BBC and the British government are standing up to Pyongyang’s censorship and repression. Free speech, objective news, and the voice of the outside world will now reach the darkest corners of North Korea.”

A loudspeaker facing North Korea in Paju, Gyeonggi, is seen on June 12. The South Korean government halted loudspeaker broadcasts towards North Korea the previous day. [YONHAP]

This memory comes to mind because the National Intelligence Service (NIS) has now halted its broadcasts toward North Korea. The U.S.-based monitoring site 38 North remarked that North Korean propaganda officials “may not believe their luck,” and with reason.

Earlier this year, North Koreans could tune in to at least some of the 25 frequencies from 11 broadcasters at 11 p.m. Not all could be jammed. But after the Donald Trump administration’s budget cuts halted Voice of America and Radio Free Asia transmissions, the four NIS-run stations also went silent. Only six frequencies from five broadcasters remain, prompting 38 North to call it “a victory for North Korea.”

Of the remaining five, only the BBC, KBS, a Defense Ministry station and three U.S.-funded private broadcasters continue. Diplomats now fear that, in the worst-case scenario, BBC broadcasts could be the only consistent outside voice for North Koreans willing to risk punishment to listen. One diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, “Halting broadcasts to signal openness for dialogue is an act against the very people we should reach.” I agree.

The Lee Jae Myung administration is giving away more than just the broadcasts. In the past, measures like halting loudspeaker operations or banning anti-Pyongyang leaflets were contentious even during negotiations. This time, broadcasts were suspended without much debate.

The situation escalated when Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of Kim Jong-un, criticized Seoul. Soon after, the unification minister floated the idea of reducing or delaying joint South Korea-U.S. military drills, saying he would propose it to the presidential office. This recalls the 2020 controversy over the “Kim Yo-jong command law,” when Seoul banned anti-Pyongyang leaflets under pressure. Yet joint military drills are far more serious.

Leaflets aimed at North Korea flutter from a large balloon during the ″Safe Return Memorial Ceremony″ hosted by the Families of Abductees to North Korea Association near Peace Land at Imjingak in Paju, Gyeonggi on April 23. [NEWS1]

During President Trump’s first term, Kim demanded that joint exercises be scaled back before the North would come to the table. Trump agreed abruptly, shocking U.S. military leaders. In his memoir, then-National Security Advisor John Bolton recalled that even the dovish Moon Jae-in administration was “very worried” about weakening joint training. At least back then, there were active talks. Today, the drills are being cut back even without any prospect of negotiations.

No one opposes better relations with North Korea. But lowering all defenses in the hope that the other side will refrain from striking is not a viable approach. If Seoul pre-emptively surrenders leverage, what will it have left to offer in the future? Deterrence is not a coupon to exchange for dialogue.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.