Websites
KCNA’s new site gets Juche date
Jan 13th
Just over a week since the Korean Central News Agency completed a major overhaul of its website, several elements of the new site have been changed.
The changes address a couple of things that surprised me when I first reviewed the site on January 5.
The first is the addition of a Juche date.
The date is typically listed in North Korean with a Juche year, then perhaps the western year in parathesis. Juche is the spirit of self reliance on which Kim Il Sung founded the country, and the Juche year refers to the number of years since the birth of Kim More >
KCNA updates its web site
Jan 5th
KCNA, North Korea’s state-run news agency, has relaunched its web site.
The site, which is one of only a handful hosted in Pyongyang, was first launched in late 2010 and has been redesigned a couple of times since it first went online. The new design, which appears to have debuted on January 4, is perhaps the slickest yet from an organization best know for its propaganda output.
The redesign doesn’t appear to have brought with it any new content areas or languages — at least, not yet — but there are a few things worth noting.
The first, and perhaps most striking for More >
Diving into AirKoryo’s new website
Nov 4th
It’s been a couple of weeks since Air Koryo’s new web site make headlines. Much has been written about the site, but not much of substance.
A lot of the stories have noted the airline’s one-star rating on Skytrax, a web site which generates ranking from user reviews, although it should be noted there are plenty of positive reviews on the site. No one’s talking about the booking web site yet so there’s not much to go on, but it does have a couple of technical problems.
The site appears to be running on its own web server in Pyongyang. That’s interesting More >
Pyongyang News website offers archived TV news
Mar 21st
A website in Japan has begun offering an archive of several days worth of North Korean TV news broadcasts.
[Updated: see below]
The Pyongyang News website appears to be affiliated with a handful of sites operated by the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (sometimes known as ‘Chosen Soren’ or ‘Chongryon’) (在日本朝鮮人總聯合會, 재일본 조선인 총련합회).
At time of writing, news bulletins going back to March 2nd are available. That’s longer than the 10 day archive offered by Elufa.net, another Tokyo-based website affiliated with the same group. The programs are received via a feed of North Korean television on the Thaicom satellite.
The new site has bulletins More >
North Korea serves up two new websites
Mar 15th
Two new North Korean-related websites have recently launched and both are associated with food.
The first, from Korea Pyongyang Haedanghwa Foodstuff, appears as a sub-site on the Naenara portal operated by Korea Computer Center (pictured, right). The site is available in Korean, Chinese and English and promotes the company’s
South Korea’s Yonhap News reports the website is “what could be the cash-strapped nation’s latest attempt to diversify its marketing activities to earn hard currency,” but there’s not much to back up that claim. While the site does appear to be the company’s first step onto the Internet, it’s not heavy with sales pitches and there’s More >
Rodong Sinmun launches English site
Jan 11th
Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the Workers’ Party of Korea and North Korea’s main national daily, has launched an English-language website.
The page appears to have come online in the last few days but has a small archive of stories stretching back to December 1. It’s the first foreign language to be offered by the newspaper and comes just under 11 months since the launch of a Korean site.
Those with an interest in North Korean affairs will welcome the site but a quick review of the content initially offered shows much of it consists of stories already available via the Korean More >
KCNA website adds Kim Jong Un section
Jan 10th
The sudden death of Kim Jong Il has North Korea’s propaganda machine scrambling to build stories about the life of Kim Jong Un.
The stories are a staple of the North Korean media and occupied hours of broadcast time and columns of newsprint during the era of Kim Jong Il.
Designed to build a personality cult around the leader, his tireless work for the people, warm heart, tough travel schedule or boundless knowledge were all regular features.
Some of the first such stories about Kim Jong Un appeared in the days shortly after Kim Jong Il’s death when state media reported on Kim More >
State websites raise name of Kim Jong Un
Dec 25th
North Korea’s state-run websites began on Saturday printing Kim Jong Un’s name in a style previously reserved for Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.
The Korea Central News Agency, Voice of Korea and Rodong Sinmun started using a heavier or larger font when spelling out his name.
Here’s how it looked on the KCNA website on Saturday. If you look closely you’ll see Kim Jong Un’s name appears slightly larger.
Not only had KCNA started using the additional coding, it had gone back through its database of stories and adjusted each instance of Kim Jong Un’s name.
And here are the Voice of More >
Kim Jong Il’s death – How DPRK websites broke the news
Dec 19th
A familiar newscaster dressed in black appears on screen and makes a tearful announcement: Kim Jong Il is dead. When North Korean state TV and radio broke the news at noon on Monday they had already given advance notice that a major announcement was coming. Its delivery was an attempt to set a national mood of mourning.
On the Internet things were a bit different with the news being carried as if it was any other story.
North Korea’s state media ventured online last year when a new Internet connection was brought to Pyongyang. The state-run news agency, the major national daily 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 >
