logo
episode-header-image
Jun 2023
49m 54s

North Korea: Residents tell BBC of neigh...

Bbc World Service
About this episode
Exclusive interviews gathered inside the world’s most isolated state suggest the situation is the worst it’s been since the 1990s, according to experts. The BBC has secretly interviewed three ordinary people in North Korea. They told us that since the country’s border closure in 2020 in response to the pandemic, they are afraid they will either starve to dea ... Show More
Up next
Yesterday
Ceasefire comes into force as IDF pulls out of parts of Gaza
Palestinians in Gaza returning to their homes following the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas say they've been shocked by the scale of destruction. Also on the programme, The Venezuelan opposition leader and democracy activist, María Corina Machado, has been awarded this year's ... Show More
45m 55s
Yesterday
Venezuelan opposition leader wins Nobel Peace Prize
Venezuela's opposition leader and pro-democracy activist María Corina Machado has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.For years, she has campaigned against Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro, whose 12-year rule is viewed by many nations as illegitimate. We'll speak to one o ... Show More
47m 29s
Oct 9
Trump says first phase of Gaza ceasefire deal agreed
US President Donald Trump says Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of his Gaza ceasefire deal. We'll speak to the father of one of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza and get reaction from Gaza City. We also assess the chances and the many obstacles that remain in the w ... Show More
46m 43s
Recommended Episodes
Jun 2023
Life inside North Korea
From the BBC World Service: It’s arguably the most secretive and isolated country on Earth. North Korea has cut itself off from the outside world, and its borders have been sealed for three years in response to the COVID pandemic. Some of those living in North Korea have risked t ... Show More
10m 27s
Jun 2023
North Koreans tell BBC of neighbours starving to death
Rare interviews with ordinary North Koreans inside the secretive state reveal chronic food shortages and starvation. Also: "extremely fierce battles" as Kyiv seeks to advance against Russian forces, and are fruit flies emotional? 
34m 16s
Jun 2024
Why North Korea is flying rubbish-filled balloons into South Korea
North Korea has launched a series of balloons packed with household waste over the border into South Korea. Pyongyang says it’s in response to Seoul distributing anti-North propaganda leaflets into cities and towns across the North. In this episode of the Briefing we take a deep ... Show More
16m 58s
Nov 2021
Why my parents sent my brothers to live in North Korea
Filmmaker Yonghi Yang grew up in Japan in the 1960s, as part of Osaka's large ethnic Korean community. Facing anti-Korean prejudice in Japan, and inspired by the North Korean regime’s promise of a socialist paradise, her parents made the momentous decision to send their three tee ... Show More
23m 50s
May 2024
North Korea’s Propaganda Mastermind
For six decades, one man has been largely responsible for creating North Korea’s propaganda machine: Kim Ki Nam. He served all three North Korean dictators and is the architect of many of the myths that have helped to keep the Kim family in power. Last week, Kim Ki Nam died at th ... Show More
18m 56s
Dec 2021
Sleepless in Seoul: South Korea’s Exhausted Workforce
This year's surprise international television success is the dystopian South Korean series, Squid Game, which imagines people competing in a series of ever more violent contests, hundreds dying along the way. The show is a shameless satire on the cut-throat competitiveness of ord ... Show More
28m 46s
May 2023
North Korea Truth & Lies: Challenging the Propaganda, w/ Ju-Hyun Park
In the U.S. we’re taught that North Korea is a horrible backwards dictatorship where every person is captive to an evil regime run by a mad man who has an inexplicable hatred of the U.S., freedom and democracy – and is always on the edge of launching a nuclear missile to destroy ... Show More
48m 33s
Jul 2019
Not Messing Around: North Korea, The Death Penalty, Heatwave
North Korea is playing with fire – literally. Just a couple weeks after President Trump visited Kim Jong Un in North Korea and agreed to resume denuclearization talks, North Korea tested two missiles this morning. Back in the US, Attorney General Bill Barr is resuming the death p ... Show More
11m 45s
Jun 2023
What North Korean defectors are telling the world on YouTube
Some young North Korean defectors have taken to social media to challenge misguided prejudices in South Korea, their new home. They are producing ‘vlogs’ for YouTube aimed at educating locals about the realities of life in North Korea. They’ve proven popular. Over the last two de ... Show More
19m 58s
Jan 2021
EU vaccine shortage, Reddit traders challenge establishment, North Korea defector
The EU’s Covid-19 vaccination plan is nearing a crisis point after several regions suspended inoculations over the shortage of jabs, and amateur day traders are challenging the financial establishment. Plus, the FT’s Seoul correspondent, Ed White, tells us how a North Korean defe ... Show More
10m 2s