Korean Central Television (KCTV; ) is the oldest television channel in North Korea, operated by the Korean Central Broadcasting Committee, the country's sole broadcaster, which is state-owned. It is broadcast terrestrially via the Pyongyang TV Tower in Moranbong-guyok, Pyongyang, streamed via the government-run internet television service Manbang, and also uplinked via satellite. It officially launched in March 1963 and has been one of the primary channels through which the North Korean state broadcasts pro-government propaganda to its people.
History
Originally known as the Central Television Broadcasting System of the DPRK (CTBS-DPRK), operations officially began on 3 March 1963, at 19:00 (7:00 pm) KST based in Pyongyang, broadcasting two hours between 19:00 until 21:00 KST on weekdays only, and then expanding to 4 and later 6 hours.
By 1968, the television network was still in the development stage.
The network carried live the whole proceedings of the 5th Workers' Party of Korea Congress held on 1 October 1970.
The CTBS would later be renamed Korean Central Television (KCTV) and was officially relaunched at 17:00 local time on 3 January 1973 (the first working day of 1973 in North Korea). The broadcasting hours were only on weekdays (workdays in North Korea) and closed on weekends and national holidays.
On 1 July 1974, KCTV presented its first colour telecast, in preparation for the 7th Asian Games in Tehran. After occasional broadcasts, KCTV began full-time colour broadcasts on 1 September 1977. The first broadcast received via satellite television broadcasts was the opening ceremony of the 1980 Summer Olympics.
KCTV started broadcasting on national holidays on 1 March 1981. On national holidays, the broadcasting time of each station is the same as weekends save for major ones. The channel was the official host broadcaster of the 1989 13th World Festival of Youth and Students.
In September 2012, China Central Television (CCTV) announced that it had recently donated 5 million yuan in new broadcasting equipment to KCTV, which was to be used to improve its programming and prepare for digital television.
By 2015, KCTV had been producing a growing number of programmes in the 16:9 aspect ratio, but its broadcast transmissions were still limited to a 4:3 standard definition format (with such programmes therefore being letterboxed). On 19 January 2015, KCTV began experimental high-definition transmissions via satellite, although only the live in-vision continuity at sign-on and sign-off was presented in HD. All other programming was presented in windowboxed standard definition. On 16 February 2015, a YouTube channel claiming to represent KCTV began posting several clips produced or mastered in HD, including archive footage of Kim Jong Il.
Native broadcasts in 16:9 widescreen with stereophonic sound started on 4 December 2017, with KCTV being one of the last state-run broadcasters to do so, albeit several years after other developed and even developing nations have done so.
In May 2024, the Chongryon-ran KCTV high-definition stream on Twitch, called "kctv_elufa" was terminated due to a violation of Twitch's Terms of Service. Later, Chongryon created another KCTV HD stream on Twitch, called "chuo_tv", but went offline due to change in satellite signal and eventually suspended in early January 2025.
Programming As of May 2022, KCTV broadcasts for around 13 hours daily, from 09:00 to around 22:40. Its sign-on sequence traditionally features the playing of the national anthem "Aegukka", "Song of General Kim Il Sung" and "Song of General Kim Jong Il".
The station's output is dominated by propaganda programs. Initially, most of its programming focused on the history and achievements of the ruling Korean Workers' Party, the Korean People's Army (KPA), its leaders, and the Juche ideology. Locally produced feature films, children's programs, theater, and patriotic musical shows and filmed theatre shows are also shown on the networks. On national holidays, military parades, musical performances and movies, plus more special programs are shown on KCTV with similar programming on its three other sister channels.
Occasionally, dubbed and ideologically safe foreign films and television from allied Russia and China are aired on the network during times of warmer relations with the countries. The Star and The Seventh Bullet were both featured, as was a Chinese television program on the life of Mao Anying from 2010. By December 2018, KCTV's programmes had begun to gain a more contemporary feel as opposed to the strictly authoritarian style used before, with more programming showcasing the North Korean people. Programmes were observed to have featured more field reporting with visible anchors and production staff, younger hosts and personalities with modern attire, increased use of modern production techniques (such as aerial cameras), more modern graphics, and a looser and more energetic presentation. Kim Jong Un's New Year's address similarly saw the leader delivering the speech from an armchair in the Workers' Party headquarters, rather than from a podium in an assembly hall. Western analysts felt that these shifts in tone were intended to make the propaganda-based programmes more visually-appealing, and more in line with the production values of international broadcasters.
One of the few instances in which KCTV broadcasts live is during the annual New Year's Eve concert in Kim Il Sung Square, which was first televised in 2018. The concert is aired in two parts, including a roughly 50-minute show from 11 p.m., with the second half comprising the raising of the North Korean flag, the playing of the national anthem, and a fireworks display at midnight. In 2022, a reedited version of the special on New Year's Day replaced a shot showing an initial failed attempt at unfurling the flag with a second take.
In May 2022, following the North's first reported cases of COVID-19 to the public, KCTV extended its broadcast day to begin at 9:00 a.m. daily. Previously, the channel began its broadcast day at 3:00 p.m., and only broadcast from 9:00 a.m. on Sundays, key national holidays, and every 1st, 11th and 21st of each month.
News operation KCTV broadcasts daily news bulletins under the title Bodo (), which serve as one of the main propaganda organs of the Workers' Party of Korea. Their content strictly follows the party line, and coverage of the day-to-day activities of Kim Jong Un take precedence over all other headlines. Stories covering the country's military and economy are also featured. Weather reports aired on KCTV list Paektusan Secret Camp—which the country claims to be the birthplace of Kim Jong Il—behind only the capital of Pyongyang.
North Korean newscasts have long been known for being melodramatic. Newsreaders use one of five tones: a lofty, wavering one for praising the nation's leaders, an explanatory one for weather forecasts, a conversational one for uncontroversial stories, a hateful one for denouncing enemies of the regime and a mournful tone for announcing the death of a North Korean official or leader. Many North Korean journalists who have defected to the South have noted the contrasts with the more conversational South Korean broadcasting style. Long-time chief newsreader Ri Chun-hee is well known for her melodramatic style, and for typically wearing a traditional, pink Chosŏn-ot dress on-air. Ri retired as a full-time anchor in 2012, stating that she wanted to focus more on training a newer generation of broadcasters. She has continued to make infrequent on-air appearances to deliver top-level announcements from the government, such as missile tests, a broadcast discussing the Singapore Summit, and to announce the death of Kim Jong Il.
By September 2012, after receiving new equipment from Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, KCTV introduced a refreshed set for its bulletins, which featured a new anchor desk and a video backdrop. By December 2018, the bulletins had begun to employ contemporary presentation elements that had previously been avoided by KCTV, such as double boxes, as part of a larger shift in KCTV's programming. Experiments with further modernization occurred in March and May 2019, when economic reports used three-dimensional infographics (including 3D text overlaid into video footage), drone footage, and time-lapse video.
KCTV may return to air or remain on-air past its usual sign-off time during special occasions and breaking news situations. On 26 August 2020, KCTV broadcast advisories throughout the day on Typhoon Bavi, including updates from the State Hydro-Meteorological Administration. For what was believed to be the first time ever, KCTV remained on the air overnight, airing a block of films interspersed with the aforementioned updates. The following morning, KCTV broadcast extended coverage of the storm's arrival and impact, including live field reports from Pyongyang and Nampo—a contrast to the traditionally strict format of KCTV's bulletins. No other coverage of Typhoon Bavi was seen during KCTV's main news bulletins until 28 August, when a story focused on Kim Jong Un's assessment of damage by the typhoon. A few weeks later, KCTV aired similar coverage of Typhoon Maysak and Typhoon Haishen, building upon the format it had used for the Typhoon Bavi coverage.
Sports programming KCTV has occasionally broadcast sporting events, including football, and other sports popular in the country. The amount of sports programming broadcast by KCTV steadily increased following the indefinite expansion of its broadcasting hours in 2022. The majority of sports broadcasts on KCTV are tape delayed and condensed into highlights for time. While it has aired coverage of international football competitions, the amount of delay between the broadcast and the original event can vary significantly. During the 2022 FIFA World Cup, KCTV broadcast nearly all matches with only one- or two-day delays, and the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup final (where North Korea beat Japan) was broadcast in prime time the same day after it was played (originally at 7:00 a.m. PYT). On the other hand, Premier League and UEFA Champions League matches are often delayed by multiple months (if not longer), and are sometimes aired out of order.
The channel has sometimes been accused of obtaining its feeds of events through unauthorized means. KCTV obtained rights to the FIFA World Cup from 2010 through 2022, via a partnership with the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union covering North Korea and six other impoverished nations.
The Olympic Games have similarly been inconsistent; until 2024, KCTV usually sublicensed its coverage from SBS (who held the rights for the entire Korean Peninsula). Beginning in 2024, KCTV received its rights directly from the IOC after SBS ended this agreement. KCTV coverage of the 2020 Summer Olympics (which North Korea refused to send athletes to) began two days after the Games had ended, and it did not broadcast any coverage of the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea (despite North and South Korea entering as a unified team during the opening ceremonies, and fielding a unified team in women's ice hockey). KCTV was delayed in starting its 2024 Summer Olympics coverage until 4 August.