(QSL’s below the text.)
KBS World Radio in Korea 12 January 2016 via SDR Twente. 0859 Sign on

Radio Korea (and its successors Radio Korea International and KBS World Radio and its predecessor Voice of Free Korea) has to be my sentimental favorite shortwave radio station. They have been one of my connections to Korea, where I served as a missionary from 1975 to 1977.

On 7 July 1977, I had the opportunity to visit the KBS transmitter site at Kimje (김제). You can see the photos here.
Over the years, they issued some rather eye catching and classy QSL cards. I first heard Voice of Free Korea in 1969. Unfortunately, I did not send them a reception report for a QSL card. From what I understand they changed their name to Radio Korea in 1973. Then in 1975, I was called to be a missionary in Korea, so my interest in Radio Korea piqued. Since I was busy as a missionary, my time for listening to the radio was virtually non-existent, but I do remember hearing Radio Korea’s English language program for foreigners on medium wave on 600 and 750 kHz. I even picked up a shortwave broadcast and received a QSL for my reception report.

After I came home from my mission in 1977, I sent off a few more reports and received QSL cards in return. My interest in Radio Korea was in full gear. I listened to their Korean language transmissions to practice my Korean, in addition to listening to their English language programs.

In 1983, I became an official monitor and received a new QSL every month. I even listened to their English language program on FM during a three-month long visit to Korea in 1984. My term as an official monitor lasted until 1987 when we moved to Germany. I still sent reception reports to them on a fairly regular basis even after that.

After we moved to Korea in 1989, I began to spend less time listening to Radio Korea, mainly because they no longer broadcast on FM and medium wave and because it was difficult to pick up their shortwave broadcasts. That is because we were so close that their signals would skip over us, and so they were not strong. However, in addition to the American Forces Korean Network (AFKN), I listened to the Korean stations including KBS. I did send a few reception reports to Radio Korea nonetheless.
We returned to the USA in 1997, and discovered that it was still difficult to hear Radio Korea in Maryland. Propagation of their signal to Maryland was not good, and they started to beam their signal elsewhere. Additionally, my schedule did not mesh with their broadcast times. So, my reports were very sporadic.
I collected almost 100 different QSLs from Radio Korea and KBS World Radio, by far the most from any single station. Most of them are for their shortwave transmissions from Kimje. I also have a QSL verifying the reception of a transmission from their transmitter site in Suwon (수원) as well as several QSLs verifying their FM broadcasts in 1984 and a couple QSLs for overseas relay stations.
I hope to be able to listen to KBS World Radio more in the future as time and propagation permits.
You can see the QSL cards that I collected from Radio Korea and KBS World Radio over the years below. They bring back a lot of fond memories to me. Comments are welcome. (Click on the images for enlarged views.)
REFERENCE:
About KBS World Radio – http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/about/about_kbsworld.htm – accessed 25 September 2015
1977 3 – Kimje 1977 3 – Kimje 1977 10 1977 10 1978 04 1978 04 1978 05 1978 05 1978 07 1978 07 1978 12 1978 12 1979 08 – Kimje 1979 08 – Kimje 1979 05 1979 05 1979 05 – Kimje 1979 05 – Kimje 1980 04 1980 04 1980 08 1980 08 1980 04 – Kimje 1980 04 – Kimje 1981 10 1981 10 1981 11 1981 11 1982 2 1982 2 1982 3 1982 3 1982 4 1982 4 1982 4 1982 4 1982 7 1982 7 1982 9 1982 9 1983 01 – Kimje 1983 01 – Kimje 1983 3 1983 04 1983 04 1983 07 1983 07 1983 08 1983 08 1983 10 1983 10 1983 10 1983 10 1983 11 1983 11 1983 11 1983 11 1983 12 1983 12 1983 12 1983 12 1984 01 1984 01 1984 02 1984 02 1984 03 1984 03 1984 03 1984 03 1984 03 1984 03 1984 03 1984 03 1984 04 1984 04 1984 05 1984 05 1984 06 1984 06 1984 07 1984 07 1984 08 1984 08 1984 09 1984 09 1984 09 1984 09 1984 10 1984 10 1984 10 1984 10 1984 11 1984 11 1984 11 1984 11 1984 11 1984 11 1984 11 1984 11 1984 11 1984 11 1984 12 1984 12 1985 01 1985 01 1985 05 1985 05 1985 05 1985 05 1985 07 1985 07 1985 08 1985 08 1985 09 1985 09 1985 12 1985 12 1986 01 1986 01 1986 02 1986 02 1986 03 1986 03 1986 03 1986 03 1986 05 1986 05 1986 05 1986 05 1986 06 1986 06 1986 07 1986 07 1986 08 1986 08 1986 09 1986 09 1986 10 1986 10 1986 10 1986 10 1986 12 1986 12 1987 1 1987 1 1987 3 1987 3 1987 4 1987 4 1987 8 1987 8 1987 11 1987 11 1987 10 1987 10 1987 12 1987 12 1988 1 1988 1 1988 2 1988 2 1988 10 1988 10 1988 11 1988 11 1989 06 1989 06 1989 09 1989 09 1989 1990 6 – Kimje 1990 6 – Kimje 1990 11 1990 11 1990 12 1990 12 1991 01 1991 01 1991 02 1991 02 1996 02 1996 02 1997 11 1997 11 1998 4 1998 4 20081228 20081228 201101401 201101401 20141001 20141001 20140101 20140101 20150926 20150926 20150926 20150926 20150926 20150926 20150926 20150912 20150912 20151206 20151206 2015 01 01 2015 01 01 20130401 20130401 20140204 20140204 20140204 20140204 20140104 20140104 20130404 20130404 2017 07 2017 07 2019 02 2019 02 2017 10 2017 10 2016 10 2016 10 2017 04 2017 04 Christmas 1978 Christmas 1978 Christmas 1987 Christmas 1987 Pak Su-hyang Pak Su-hyang