Internet
North Korean delegation visits Silicon Valley
Apr 5th
A delegation of North Korean officials toured Silicon Valley in California, according to several news reports. The group of 12 government employees had been in the U.S. on a 2-week trip organized by the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation at University of California, San Diego.
They spent about 100 minutes inside Google from 10am on April 1. The visit was arranged with “tight security” and journalists were restricted from interacting with the North Koreans, according to a Yonhap News report.
Afterwards, they visited Stanford University for a lunch seminar. It was about industry-university cooperation and was attended by “U.S. experts on More >
UN Special Rapporteur calls for freedoms in DPRK
Mar 6th
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the DPRK has called for increased freedom of information and access to independent media for the people of North Korea. The calls came in a 76-point report submitted on Feb. 21, 2011, to the UN’s Human Rights Council.
The rapporteur, Marzuki Darusman, met with defectors, politicians and others in South Korea and Japan when compiling the report. Darusman previously served as Indonsia’s Attorney General and was a member of the country’s National Commission of Human Rights.
In the report, he covers access to independent and international media, Internet access, press freedom and the dangers associated More >
KCNA significantly increasing output
Mar 4th
The Korean Central News Agency has significantly increased its online output in the last few months as it continues to expand its new website.
The website, available at kcna.kp (except in South Korea where it’s blocked), first appeared in October 2010 and is KCNA’s first official home on the web. KCNA news was previously available via Korea News Service in Tokyo, but the new site appears to be run directly from Pyongyang.
When it launched, it carried KCNA’s English and Spanish language output and some photos. A refresh of the site in December added Korean, but this simply brought it level with the More >
KCNA reporting Chinese Internet filtering
Feb 22nd
North Korea’s official news agency, KCNA, has reported three times in the past week on China’s filtering of the Internet.
The reports come at an interesting time for free-speech online. Internet-based social networks and communications systems are being hailed as instrumental in protests that have toppled two Middle Eastern leaders and the U.S. has confirmed a commitment to advancing Internet freedom with diplomatic pressure and grants of up to US$30 million.
Internet access is available in the DPRK, but is believed to be severely restricted to all but the most-trusted members of the government and related organs.
KCNA’s first report came on Feb. 14, More >
Rodong Sinmun launches website
Feb 17th
Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Worker’s Party of Korea and one of the most important propaganda tools of the DPRK government, has launched a website.
The site was first reported on Thursday although appears to have been officially launched a day earlier on Feb. 16, which was Kim Jong Il’s 69th birthday. DNS (domain name system) records for the site, at www.rodong.rep.kp, which are required for public access to the server, first appeared on Feb. 16.
The website appears to contain the full text of each day’s newspaper and stories back to Jan. 1, 2011. Each More >
Website appears for LRIT maritime system
Feb 16th
North Korea appears to have taken the first steps towards putting a data center online for the maritime Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) system.
The LRIT system was created by the International Maritime Organization in May 2006 and requires passenger and cargo ships automatically report their identity and location at least four times a day. LRIT aids in the global identification and tracking of ships and is part of the shipping industry’s answer to piracy.
In the last few days a website has appeared within North Korea’s IP address space that carriers the single English-language message: “Welcome to LRIT National Data Center More >
Kim Jong Il calls for computer network expansion
Jan 31st
Kim Jong Il has called for the expansion of a domestic computer network, according to domestic media reports. His comments were made earlier this month, when he visited the recently-built North Hwanghae Provincial People′s Study House, said KCNA and state radio.
The study house was opened in September 2010 and covers 4,500 square meters, according to a BBC Monitoring transcript of a state radio bulletin broadcast on Jan. 21.
In has a capacity of hundreds of thousands of books, databases, seats for 500 and is connected to the remote lecture service that was started by the Grand People’s Study House in Pyongyang More >
KCNA confirms website, new address
Jan 22nd
Korea Central News Agency confirmed for the first time on Saturday that a recently launched website carrying its news is the agency’s official site.
KCNA news has been available on the Internet for several years via a handful of sites, but all have been run by third parties outside the country.
On Saturday, the agency posted a notice in its daily news mentioning the site:
“The Korean Central News Agency would like to express thanks to all the visitors to its website. The KCNA has the honor to inform the visitors that its website address has been changed: IP address 175.45.176.58.”
North Korea Tech More >
Uriminzokkiri’s Twitter account still down
Jan 22nd
Uriminzokkiri, the China-based website that carries North Korean news to the world, was the center of attention earlier this month when its Twitter and YouTube channels were hacked.
Four Twitter messages and a YouTube video denigrating Kim Jong Il and his son, Kim Jong Un, were posted on Jan. 8, which is reportedly the birthday of the younger Kim.
The YouTube channel was reinstated within a few days and is back to its usual diet state-TV clips and videos produced by the website, which appears to have close ties to Pyongyang.
However, two weeks on from the hacking and Uriminzokkiri appears to still not More >
KCNA switches IP addresses
Jan 21st
The recently-launched website of the Korea Central News Agency has jumped to a new IP address. This move explains some of the downtime the site has suffered in the last few days.
The site can now be accessed at http://175.45.176.58. The DNS records haven’t been updated yet, so the star.edu.kp domain name doesn’t work at time of writing. It still points to the old address.
South Korea’s Internet firewall has also not yet been updated, so the site is currently accessible from South Korea. It had previously been blocked by Seoul.
The North Korean Website List has been updated with this information.
More >
