Korea Central Television - Pyongyang, North Korea

Korea Central Television, known as KCTV, is the state broadcaster of North Korea and one of the most restricted television services on earth. This feed rebroadcasts the channel live via publicly available satellite signals for research, journalism, and media analysis, making it one of the very few ways anyone outside the country can observe North Korean state media in real time.

KCTV does not broadcast continuously. The channel typically airs Monday to Friday from 3pm to 10:30pm Pyongyang time, with extended hours on Sundays, major national holidays, and on the 1st, 11th, and 21st of each month from 9am. News bulletins go out at 5pm, 8pm, and 10:30pm daily. Outside of broadcast hours the feed shows the channel's test card, which has become almost as recognisable as the programmes themselves.

The content is entirely state-controlled and offers a direct window into how the North Korean government presents itself to its own population. Broadcasts cover official political announcements, military parades, cultural performances, agricultural reports, and heavily curated international news, all framed within the ideological language of the Korean Workers' Party.

Did You Know? KCTV uses its own time zone. North Korea operates on Pyongyang Time, which sits 30 minutes behind South Korea and Japan. The time zone was created in 2015 by the North Korean government, which stated it was correcting a zone imposed by Japanese colonial rulers in 1912. It was quietly abandoned in 2018 ahead of inter-Korean summit talks, bringing North Korea back into alignment with the South.

Explore more live streams in North Korea, or take a look at more Live News channels from across Asia including South Korea and China. You can also browse our Live Webcam Map or explore cameras by country.