Hacker Hijacks North Korean Radio Station, Plays ‘The Final Countdown’

[ChrisSmolinski]

An unknown hacker has allegedly hijacked North Korean short-wave radio station, 6400kHz, and is broadcasting the 1986 hit song from ’80s Swedish  rock band Europe, “The Final Countdown.”

News of the incident was posted on Twitter by vigilante hacker, “The Jester,” who has in the past gained fame by hacking jihadist websites, and who in October 2016 defaced the website of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the message, “Stop attacking Americans.”

The 6400kHz station is based in Kanggye close to the North Korean border with China, and is used by North Korean radio station Pyongyang Broadcasting Station (Pyongyang BS), which also broadcasts on the 621, 1053, and 3250 frequencies.

https://m.theepochtimes.com/hacker-hijacks-north-korean-radio-station-plays-the-final-countdown_2354373.html

[MDK2]

Hackers? Nonsense. That's just Kim III's favorite rock n roll jam. Rodman's getting him to loosen up.

[skeezix]

I don't believe this is true.

I was listening yesterday (Nov 9, 2017) to 6400 kHz at 1542 UTC on the Univ of Twente's WebSDR. I did hear Europe's The Final Countdown, followed by Take It to the Limit, followed by something else that I do not recall. The second song started to fade and another station was coming up, and that sounded like the North Korean station with their Cold War red music (which was consistent with the music on Voice of Korea).

Several times, I distinctly heard two stations on the air at the same time. 

FWIW, I was chatting with someone at work and I mentioned this (time in CST, since that's where I am):

09:42 Pyongyang Broadcasting Service is on 6400 kHz with music or something. There's a second station playing "The Final Countdown" by Europe. lol

I recorded it, but decided not to save it as it was uninteresting. Guess that was incorrect.

If the DPRK had two transmitters on the frequency, I suppose one could've been hijacked...

[SW Observer]

As funny as this is, I think it was likely a EuroPirate as others have said. 6400 kHz is located within their frequency range and it was probably a coincidence (or a Pirate with a sense of humor!) but I have my doubts that someone accessed the Radio Pyongyang transmitter and played "The Final Countdown".

[Swede P]

Yes, I agree this was a non-story.

Sadly, I think this only proves the growing unfamiliarity with shortwave radio among the media and the general public.

[BoomboxDX]

Ya never know. It could happen, but the North Koreans themselves seem to be rather tech savvy (they managed to hack the South Korean military's site and download multipage documents showing US/S Korean war plans) -- I would think that their version of internet security at the radio station is pretty robust.

Plus, Radio Pyongyang grobably isn't connected to the internet at all, unlike many US FM stations which have been hacked.

[Josh]

China and NK are huge into cyberwarfare, mainly because of the bang for the buck and the pron. I also doubt anyone hacked into Pyongpyang's net and spoofed a bcast in the face of the dear leader.

[Token]

As funny as this is, I think it was likely a EuroPirate as others have said. 6400 kHz is located within their frequency range and it was probably a coincidence (or a Pirate with a sense of humor!) but I have my doubts that someone accessed the Radio Pyongyang transmitter and played "The Final Countdown".

A Europirate Nova Radio was active on the frequency at the time, and off and on since then also.

No hack, just a basic co-channel operation and the associated interference issue.  If you listen to the supposed "hack" you can hear PBS under Radio Nova.

T!