Martyn Williams
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Homepage: http://www.northkoreatech.org
Posts by Martyn Williams
AP hopes to open Pyongyang bureau in early 2012
Aug 25th
The Associated Press expects to finalize plans this week to open a news bureau in Pyongyang.
A team from the U.S.-based news organization is currently in the North Korean capital negotiating the details of the bureau, which AP President Tom Curley said he hopes will be open in early 2012.
Curley told South Korea’s Yonhap News that AP expects it will have “a text correspondent and a photographer, and we expect to have others as well” stationed at the bureau.
An opening in 2012 would allow the news organization to cover the April 2012 anniversary of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim More >
Koryolink sees another record quarter
Aug 25th
Koryolink, North Korea’s only 3G network operator, added a record number of subscribers in the second quarter of 2011, but the company will have to push harder if it’s to reach a million users by the end of the year.
The company ended the quarter with 666,517 subscribers, according to Orascom Telecom. Egypt’s Orascom holds a 75 percent stake in Cheo Technology, which operates the service under the Koryolink brand name. The remaining 25 percent stake is held by the government-owned Korea Posts and Telecommunications Co. (KPTC).
The company added 131,384 subscribers during the April to June quarter, putting the quarter just More >
VOK on US hacking
Aug 4th
The Voice of Korea, North Korea’s international radio broadcaster, recently aired a commentary that took aim at several hacking incidents in the U.S., but the true aim of the piece appears to be the U.S. Department of Defense’s recently published Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace.
The U.S. document, a declassified version of which is available online, brings together cyber strategies and thinking throughout the DoD. The classified version also says major cyber attacks can constitute acts of war, according to reports.
The VOK commentary begins with the hack of Fox News’ Twitter stream that saw a message posted that U.S. President Barack More >
Koryo Tours hits out at South Korean web block
Aug 1st
Koryo Tours, the Beijing-based travel agent that specializes in tours of North Korea, says South Korea has “over reacted” in blocking its website since the beginning of this year.
The websites koryotours.com and koryogroup.com have been unavailable from South Korean Internet connections since January 26 this year, apparently a casualty of South Korea’s campaign to stop its citizens from seeing North Korean content.
“This came as a complete surprise – we had not been notified in advance or asked to explain particular content, nor notified afterwards and given an explanation,” the company said in a statement.
Koryo Tours said it arranged a meeting with the More >
Kim Jong Il visits ‘LCD TV factory’
Jul 30th
North Korean state media has reported on a visit by Kim Jong Il to the “May 11 Factory,” which it described as “a modern scientific research and production center which researches and develops varieties of electronic goods including liquid crystal display TV sets.”
The KCNA report mentioned the LCD televisions several times and was accompanied with many photos of the TVs, so they appear to be something the North Korean government is proud of. There’s a gallery of stills from the KRT evening news report below.
Look through them and you’ll notice the pictures all appear to show the final stages of assembly More >
Coding the Kims
Jul 20th
If you’ve spent time browsing some of North Korea’s official websites and looked closely enough, you might have spotted a slight change in the typeface every time Kim Jong Il or Kim Il Sung is mentioned.
Your eyes are not deceiving you. Official North Korean websites contain a custom style rule written into the page that is used when either of the Kims is mentioned.
Here’s are some examples. First, from the website of KCNA. Kim Jong Il is mentioned twice and both times his name is slightly bigger than the rest of the text.
At Voice of Korea it’s the same. The More >
AP kills KCNA photo, says it was altered
Jul 18th
Hot on the heels of agreements between Korean Central News Agency and both The Associated Press and Reuters to more widely distribute KCNA video, The AP has withdrawn a KCNA photo saying it’s not what it appears to be.
The photo, below, was distributed to AP members and customers on July 16 and purports to show floods that hit Pyongyang a day earlier.
The original caption said: “In this photo taken Friday, July 15, 2011 and released Saturday July 16, 2011 by Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service, residents wade through a flooded street in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea More >
KCNA video in demand by foreign agencies
Jul 15th
Two recent deals with western news agencies stand to put Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) video in front of millions of viewers.
The deals, with The Associated Press and Reuters, give each agency the ability to redistribute KCNA footage to TV stations around the world as part of their video news service. Such deals are common and both AP Television News and Reuters have many to supplement their own footage and get quick access to breaking news.
The difficulties of getting into Pyongyang to shoot any video, let alone breaking news, present unique problems for all journalists.
AP announced its deal on June More >
AP, Reuters battle for Pyongyang bragging rights
Jul 12th
Pyongyang is suddenly the hottest place to have a newsroom.
In the space of two weeks, both The Associated Press and Reuters have announced plans to source more content from inside the country.
The AP has signed a memorandum of understanding (which typically precedes an official deal) on the establishment of a text and photo bureau in Pyongyang, while Reuters says it has an agreement to feed video from Pyongyang for distribution to its TV clients worldwide.
(Pictured right: Kim Pyong Ho, president of Korean Central News Agency, right, exchanges an agreement during an official signing with AP President and CEO Tom Curley More >
Internet, mobile phones eyed for Mt. Kumgang
Jul 11th
North Korea plans to allow Internet access and the use of mobile phones by visitors to the Mount Kumgang tourism zone.
Visitors are typically relieved of their mobile phones when entering North Korea and public Internet access is not available inside the country.
But the country is establishing a special tourism zone around Mount Kumgang, the scenic North Korean mountain resort that was the subject of a previous tourism agreement with Hyundai. The South Korean company halted tours to the area in July 2008 after a South Korean tourist was accidentally shot while walking along a beach in the region.
More than a More >
