HFU HF Underground

General Category => General Radio Discussion => Topic started by: glimmer twin on March 12, 2017, 2344 UTC

Title: Decoded North Korean numbers broadcast?
Post by: glimmer twin on March 12, 2017, 2344 UTC
Has anybody seen this?
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/777993/Kim-Jong-Un
Title: Re: Decoded North Korean numbers broadcast?
Post by: flexoman61 on March 13, 2017, 0015 UTC
Interesting article, thanks.
Title: Re: Decoded North Korean numbers broadcast?
Post by: Pigmeat on March 13, 2017, 1236 UTC
I thought those RNK numbers broadcasts were about where you can get the Lil' Kim haircut and action figures in the West.
Title: Re: Decoded North Korean numbers broadcast?
Post by: Token on March 13, 2017, 1317 UTC
I have some serious reservations about some of the facts in that article.

According to the video embedded, the transmission was "10 days ago" at "1245 AM".  This article was posted on March 12, 2017.  So the date of the transmission was around March 2.  The closest Pyongyang numbers transmission I know of was on March 4, at 1515 UTC.  They keep a regular schedule, the first and third Saturday of the month, starting at 1515 UTC.  They used to also send on the second and fourth Thursday of the month, starting at 1615 UTC, but that cycle appears to have been dropped in late January, 2017.

The person who supposedly decoded these transmission appears to be in Britain, and the message traffic was purportedly about a British and American targets. But, these transmissions cannot be heard in Britain.  Radio Pyongyang, the source of these transmissions, uses MW, VHF, and HF frequencies, and transmits these messages simultaneously on over a half dozen freqs.  But the HF freqs are 3250, 3320, and 6400 kHz, and to the best of my knowledge these freqs have never been heard in Britain at the time numbers are transmitted, in fact they are seldom, if ever, heard in Britain at any time.  Normal propagation conditions just don't support it.  North Korea does have other shortwave outlets that are often heard in Britain, but the freqs and programming that carry the numbers transmissions are regional in nature and difficult to hear in Britain.

The person who defected, in Britain, and helped decode the message defected in August of 2016.  He happened to have had the code keys to a message that would be sent for Asian reception 5 months later?

Of course, it is all possible, but there are too many holes in the story for me to take it seriously.  Maybe the details were left out because they would have been tedious to the average reader, or to reduce the word count.  And then again it would not be the first time a media story took a basically correct fact and presented it in a screwed up way that presented some of the facts wrong.

T!

Title: Re: Decoded North Korean numbers broadcast?
Post by: MDK2 on March 13, 2017, 1447 UTC
I have some serious reservations about some of the facts in that article.


I had some when I saw that it was the Daily Express. And also when I considered that no major news source was reporting it. You'd think that the BBC, at least, would find it worth reporting that North Korea had targeted a British citizen.
Title: Re: Decoded North Korean numbers broadcast?
Post by: Duffer on March 14, 2017, 1150 UTC
The person who supposedly decoded these transmission appears to be in Britain, and the message traffic was purportedly about a British and American targets. But, these transmissions cannot be heard in Britain.

I'm sure 'FVEY' have listening stations, located near Korea.

This has to be a controlled leak from government agencies, released for their own reasons?

Title: Re: Decoded North Korean numbers broadcast?
Post by: Token on March 14, 2017, 1239 UTC
The person who supposedly decoded these transmission appears to be in Britain, and the message traffic was purportedly about a British and American targets. But, these transmissions cannot be heard in Britain.

I'm sure 'FVEY' have listening stations, located near Korea.

This has to be a controlled leak from government agencies, released for their own reasons?



Of course they could, certainly do, have listening stations around the World.  For that matter there are remote receivers anyone has access to around the World, including in South Korea.  I use such remotes quite often, as do others on these forums.

My point was that the transmissions are regional.  The selection of frequency and time makes it clear that the intended recipients of these messages are in the area of the two Koreas.  Why send "hit" instructions over the radio concerning an American and a Brit when the instructions will not be heard even remotely close to the targets locations?  If the operative has to receive the instructions near Korea, and then travel around the World to do the job, would it not be easier just to dispatch the operative directly?

These kinds of instructions, from numbers stations, probably work best when intended for an operative already embedded in or near the target country.

As for a controlled leak, would it not make more sense to leak it to something other than the Daily Express?  That is more of a supermarket tabloid, and with its leaning towards conspiracy theories sometimes is not viewed as the most impartial of references.

T!
Title: Re: Decoded North Korean numbers broadcast?
Post by: Duffer on March 14, 2017, 1437 UTC
Sorry not thinking straight there! Maybe the intended recipient was merely in South Korea, and could board a plane?
Perhaps less suspicious than someone traveling directly from North Korea?

I wonder why the wider press didn't pick up on it? Or maybe the source really was
of poor quality? Guess we'll never know.

Title: Re: Decoded North Korean numbers broadcast?
Post by: Pigmeat on March 14, 2017, 1639 UTC
Sometimes the motives and actions of state and non-state entities can make absolutely no sense. Remember the anthrax attacks following 9/11, one of which was targeted the "Weekly World News"? I dare anyone to explain that.