NORTH
Korea`s bizarre coded radio messages have returned to the airwaves ahead of the
Winter Olympics sparking fears over what the signals might mean.
Gentle
music followed by a stern voice reading out orders apparently from a spy`s code
book have once again been drifting over on shortwave radio from Kim Jong-un`s
kingdom.
Known as numbers stations, this activity has reappeared in the
weeks before the so-called Peace Olympics takes over Pyeongchang, Daily Star
Online can reveal.
Recorded by an amateur radio operator all the way over
in the US, the unsettling radio message seems meaningless to anyone but the
intended listener.
North Korea has been on a ``charm offensive`` as it
cozies up to the South ahead of the games, with the two enemies due to march
together at the opening ceremony under the banner of a united
Korea.
Fears remain over Kim`s intentions however, and the reappearance
of the numbers station will only fuel suspicions of the North.
Daily Star
Online has obtained audio of the latest transmission from the numbers station -
known as V15 - which has been sounding off ahead of the Winter
Olympics.
Orchestral music plays on the broadcast, which is carried by
Radio Pyongyang, before a woman`s voice begins to speak.
She begins to
bark repetitive orders, appearing to give questions and answers from a textbook
with corresponding numbers and page numbers.
The voice is not automated,
and appears to be a real North Korean operative reading out the numbers
live.
Four of these messages have been recorded over the past 20 days in
the run-up to the Olympics.
For around six-and-a-half minutes the woman
reads out the repetitive codes before signing-off and being replaced by eerie
distorted operatic music.
This was recorded back on January 20 and came
drifting across the 2.5 mile-wide wasteland that separates North and South
Korea.
It was captured at around 11.45pm, according to the radio operator
who made the recording.
Numbers stations are designed to give spies
secret orders using a cipher book, which is full of codes that allow them to
work out their orders.
Another two messages were also detected, one on
January 25, February 3, and February 8.
This practice was prolific during
the heady days of the Cold War, but it appears Kim still keeps his agents tuning
in.
North Korea is believed to have spies operating in neighbouring South
Korea, with which it has remained technically at war with since the end of the
Korean War in 1953 (via Mike Cooper, Feb 12, DXLD)
