TRANSCRIPT:
There is no media outlet that really expresses and describes the true sentiment of America, the American people, as well as informing people about what real American policy is all about. So, Voice of America is indispensable in telling the American story and informing the rest of the world.
The Korean Service speaks directly to the Korean people, but also to the elite. It breaks through walls that the regime has imposed around it and it informs the Korean people in the North so that they can understand the world. The Korean people in the North must have information, must have knowledge. It is because of Voice of America that they have an alternative understanding of the truth about the outside world. And so without the Korean Service, the Korean people in the North will be cut off completely from the world.
Voice of America in total, and the Korean Service in particular, should be restored to the way it was in January of 2025. That’s step one. Step two is it should be fully resourced and then empowered. And the experts at Voice of America — the journalists, the producers — should be allowed to determine the programming and content and expand the broadcasting.
And what my experience has been is that the journalists in Voice of America writ large, and the Korean Service in particular, are the most objective, mission-focused journalists that I’ve ever seen. They are patriots. They believe in the mission. And I don’t think that they would ever succumb to being a propaganda mouthpiece. They speak truth to power.
They demonstrate the fundamental American value of freedom of the press, and that is, its actions alone are the exemplar that the world needs to see. If given the opportunity, they will be the number one supporters of U.S. policy and U.S. national security for the American people.
Published
Maxwell is a retired U.S. Army Special Forces colonel and national security expert focused on Korea and irregular warfare. He has held senior roles at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and Georgetown University.