New Details of North Korean Spy Radio Messages Emerge

[Oliver]

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A North Korean broadcast of numbers on June 24 ended a 16-year sojourn that is surprising many who thought Pyongyang had given up on the old spy trick.

The practice was halted in 2000 after the first inter-Korea summit between North Korean President Kim Jong Il and South Korean President Kim Dae Jun.
The 14-minute broadcast of two sets of numbers by a female voice appears to have been the work of the Voice of Korea (formerly Radio Pyongyang), a North Korean radio propaganda station that broadcasts accolades of the Kim family.
A retired US National Security Agency source said the fact it was a 10-11 meter frequency band in the middle of the night, considering that North Korea does not have relay stations like many other shortwave stations, would make the target local to South Korea, Japan or northern China.

“Sun Spot cycle is low to zero right now so would not expect it to be a DX [long distance] transmission," according to the NSA source.
The station is using old Soviet transmitters that give it a distinctive humming sound when broadcasting, said Keith Perron, an expert on spy number stations who runs the international shortwave and FM station, PCJ Radio, which broadcasts news, entertainment and serves as a relay for other content.

The hum is created due to the poor quality of transmitters and the fact that North Korea does not use microwaves to relay the message to the antennas but rather old telephone wires.
Perron said that Voice of Korea has sometimes broadcast gibberish between news stories that are also designed as messages to spies. This was a common tactic by the BBC during World War II to alert the French Resistance.

Number stations can be traced back to World War I and were made famous during the Cold War in Europe. At the end of the Cold War, number stations began shutting down and now are occasionally broadcast by Communist remnants, such as Cuba, China and North Korea, though Israel and Taiwan still use them.


The method is simple: The broadcasts contain a set of four or five numbers that correspond to letters or words that are decipherable using a one-time pad by a deep cover spy listening to a shortwave radio. Messages are broadcast at schedules and frequencies assigned to the spy. Perron claims North Korean one-time pads have never been broken by counter-intelligence.
There have been media reports out of South Korea that the North Koreans are using a more sophisticated method of sending secrets via steganography, a method of concealing a message within another file, image, or video, which makes the recent number broadcast by North Korea odd.



Source: http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/international/asia-pacific/2016/07/22/north-korea-spy-numbers-radio-message/87429280/

Thanks to Denis @ Radioascolto a 360°.

[ka1iic]

Interesting situation. but...

As far as this list goes would this be considered a spy station or a general radio broadcast?

This could cause cross posting...  And both would be correct...  technically that is... 

Leave it to North Korea to mess things up... Playing with peoples minds...  That's my gig damn it! 

grrrrrrrrr

[Pigmeat]

It's "Check your tire pressure", the same message as always. Great Leader is a stickler for highway safety.

[ka1iic]

burrrrrrrrrrrrp...

Well my tire pressure was fine until that last burst...   

Excuse me while I get away from this computer or 'kiss the sky'...

Where's my SG...?

All is better <sigh>

[Token]

As I said in the other thread, in fact a couple of threads across the web on this now, there is a lot of misinformation in this article.  Never let fact get in the way of a good story. 

June 24 did not break a 16 year gap in North Korean numbers activity.  The numbers station V28 has been active on a near daily basis since at least November of 2015.  However the last confirmed time that the Pyongyang regularly scheduled service of PBS carried a numbers style message might have been 16 years ago, but even that is arguable, there have been several reports over the years of isolated messages like this on PBS.  No recordings are known to exist of these other transmissions, so they cannot be proven, however note that a complete recording of this last transmission cannot be found either, so is it hard to believe that the previous ones were missed by anyone who cares enough to record and make publicly available?

These two transmissions in June and July did not happen in the 10-11 meter band, the two partial recordings that are available appear to have been in the 90 meter band, but that transmission is normally simulcast in the 49 meter band, so it probably happened there also.  Further, PBS does not use any frequencies in the 10-11 meter band, and this transmission was part of a regularly scheduled PBS transmission.

“Sun Spot cycle is low to zero right now so would not expect it to be a DX [long distance] transmission," according to the NSA source.

is two untruths/partial truths in one.  If the transmission was in the 10-11 meter band there might be some truth in the Sun spot / DX portion of the comment, but because of the frequencies and time used (90 meter band, possibly 49 meter band also, local time at presumed transmit location near midnight) there was no reasonable expectation of great distance in the transmission.  The combination of frequency and time would be expected to yield regional coverage.  Even in periods of high sunspot activity the 90 meter band is mostly regional.  And this was not an "NSA" source, that is a transparent attempt to add credibility to the story.  "A retired US National Security Agency source" is not "an NSA source".  Someone who at one time worked for NSA, in whatever capacity, does not speak for the Agency or as a source for the Agency.

The hum is created due to the poor quality of transmitters and the fact that North Korea does not use microwaves to relay the message to the antennas but rather old telephone wires.

  For many years before microwave links existed audio was carried over copper just fine, no hum in a well maintained system.  And you can get hum in a microwave link as well.  My point is, the hum could be from multiple source, but I doubt the selection of a copper link, in and of itself, is the culprit.  And listening to South Korean numbers station V24 one finds it very often has a hum on it, and I would bet they use neither "old Soviet transmitters" or "rather old telephone lines".

At the end of the Cold War, number stations began shutting down and now are occasionally broadcast by Communist remnants, such as Cuba, China and North Korea, though Israel and Taiwan still use them.

  As far as I know Israel has not used one for a while, although I guess some would take 4XZ as a numbers station.  Of course, if it is, wouldn't that kind of put M51 from France in the same group?  And this list leaves out Poland, Russia, Vietnam, South Korea, etc.  While many/most of the old well known favorites are gone, new numbers stations have popped up over the years.  It could be argued that as a whole the number of stations today is not much less than what it was in the Cold War, however the focus has shifted somewhat from Europe to Asia.

T!

[ka1iic]

Token, you are right about phone lines.  Commercial radio stations have no problem with hum on their phone lines.  Just use a balanced line... no big deal and no high tech, been used for years.

You are also right about the hum on the transmitters... Anyone remember what Radio Moscow sounded like???  You talk about hum...

NSA doesn't comment on this sort of thing that I know of and probably never have or never will.  Intel is kept close to heart and isn't talked about to out side sources.  In their world the old phrase still works; "loose lips sink ships (or other things that matter to the NSA)

As for 'spy' messages, messages can be hidden in plain text News reports without too much trouble or hassle and no one would even know the difference... been done.  Even a configured play list can give out messages... So listen closely to those tunes you heard played by your local DJ <smile>

Oh well... back to work...

have a great evening and a better tomorrow.

Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.