In the last three months, the daily flow of uncensored news and information from foreign radio programming broadcast into North Korea has plummeted by nearly 80 percent, significantly impacting how the outside world can reach the North Korean people, according to an analysis released by 38 North on Tuesday.

The U.S.-based North Korea-focused outlet said compared with earlier this year, the number of hours of broadcasting into the North has dropped from 415 hours to 89 hours a day.
 
The think tank pointed to the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for Global Media by the Donald Trump administration in May, which halted broadcasting by Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, as well as the suspension of four radio stations believed to be operated by South Korea’s National Intelligence Service in June, including Voice of the People, Echo of Hope and Radio Free Korea.
   
The timing of the suspensions of the South Korean stations, it said, was likely linked to the change of leadership in the country, as President Lee Jae Myung has made clear that easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula is one of his top priorities.
 
As a result of the cuts across the board, North Koreans switching their radios on at peak listening times from 11 p.m. can now only find five foreign radio stations broadcasting programs aimed at North Korea, compared with 11 at the beginning of the year, with the number of frequencies in use dropping from 25 to just six.
 
38 North said currently, the vast majority of programming is run by South Korean government-affiliated stations KBS Hanminjok Radio and Voice of Freedom, run by the Ministry of National Defense.

If the South Korean government decides to stop those broadcasts, all that will be left is a weekday-only 30-minute broadcast by the BBC World Service and a few hours a day from three private stations, Free North Korea Radio, North Korea Reform Radio and National Unity Radio, the think tank said.