Behind the scenes at N. Korea’s cult radio show

Giving hope: People looking out from inside a tram passing by a department store in central Pyongyang. (Inset) Chung-seong adjusting a microphone during a radio broadcast at a radio station in Seoul. — Reuters

FOR an hour each day, Kim Chung-seong, a defector from North Korea, takes to the microphone in a small Seoul studio.

At 1am, his show, Hello from Seoul, the Republic of Korea, sends a mix of gospel music and news into North Korea, defying the isolated state’s efforts to keep its people in the dark about the world, religion and the truth about its leaders.