Media
Schmidt’s Washington speech on North Korea, Internet and dictatorships
May 13th
Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google, speaks at the company’s Big Tent event in Washington, D.C., on April 26, 2013.
Google has posted video of Eric Schmidt’s remarks at the recent “Big Tent” event in Washington, D.C.
The Google-organized events act as idea summits and have been running for about three years and the D.C. event took place on April 26.
During his speech, the chairman of Google talked about North Korea and the impact that the connected world, and the Internet in particular, would have on authoritarian countries.
“In North Korea we visited with the government, of course that’s all there is in North More >
DPRK moves up a point, but still worst for press freedom
May 2nd
DVDs being smuggled into the DPRK have gained the country a point in an annual ranking of press freedom. [Updated, see below]
The ranking, by Washington, D.C., -based Freedom House was published on Wednesday and this year gave North Korea a score of 96. That still leaves it at the absolute bottom of the survey, this year tied with Turkmenistan, but its a point higher than last year.
The extra point came, “as a result of increased attempts to circumvent stringent censorship and the use of technologies such as smuggled DVDs to spread news and information,” Freedom House said in the report.
Recent years have seen a More >
KCTV gets more connected
Apr 20th
Korean Central Television, the DPRK’s main nationwide TV channel, appears to have received another technology upgrade.
New satellite images uploaded to Google Earth show four satellite dishes on the roof of a building at the TV and radio broadcasting center. They weren’t there a few months ago.
It’s interesting because previously the TV and radio broadcasting center didn’t appear to have any link with the rest of the world. At least, nothing direct it controlled. It’s quite possible that signals from overseas were downlinked somewhere else and supplied over cable to the building.
Here’s the building as shown in a Google image from More >
US wants VOA, RFA transmitter in South Korea
Apr 11th
The organization that runs America’s international broadcasting services wants to build a transmitter in South Korea to give Voice of America and Radio Free Asia a better signal into the DPRK.
The Broadcasting Board of Governors disclosed the plan in its annual budget request, which was published on Wednesday.
The plan, if realized, could mean a substantially stronger and more reliable signal for the two stations, but is likely to attract jamming by North Korean authorities.
The BBG is seeking to construct a new medium wave transmitter in South Korea. This transmitter, optimally situated in a location near the border with North Korea, would More >
Voice of Korea on KPA nuclear statement
Apr 4th
The Korean People’s Army statement issued through KCNA on Thursday threatening nuclear weapons use in retaliation for any U.S. attack was repeated on the Voice of Korea shortwave radio program of the DPRK the same day, but it didn’t rank anywhere near the top news of the day.
Leading off the English-language newscast was details of the plenary meeting of the central committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea. The news then progressed to a number of new laws passed by the Supreme People’s Assembly. Item five on the nuclear weapons law might be of interest to some.
The army statement came More >
Voice of Korea mid 2013 full schedule
Apr 2nd
Voice of Korea switched to its mid-2013 broadcasting schedule as of March 31. A couple of days ago I published the frequencies for English-language programs based on my own monitoring, and now we have the full plan for all languages.
The broadcasts follow the same basic line-up each day.
:00 Opening signal, station identification: “This is Voice of Korea” :01 National Anthem :03 Song of General Kim Il Sung :06 Song of General Kim Jong Il :09 News, editorials (approx 15 minutes, but can be extended to full broadcast), followed by music :30 Reminiscences of Great Leader President Kim Il Sung of More >
Voice of Korea dumps own player, adopts Flash
Mar 26th
The website of Voice of Korea, the DPRK’s international shortwave radio service, has dumped its proprietary software player.
The site previously required use of the player by users to hear its audio clips posted online (see, right), but that’s not now the case.
Users can now listen with Flash, and that opens the audio up for the first time to Mac and Linux users. It also means that Windows users who were uneasy about downloading a North Korean software package onto their computers can now listen to the audio.
Users don’t have to download the linked Flash package. Flash can be downloaded from More >
Report: DPRK testing digital TV
Mar 17th
North Korea began digital TV broadcasting trials last year, according to a report published this week.
There were no other details of the tests included in the report, which was carried by the Korea Computer Center’s Naenara portal as part of an article on upgrades to the country’s telecommunications systems.
“On the basis of the trial introduction of digital TV broadcasting last year the ministry is working to lay the material and technical foundation for applying it stage by stage while developing programs and introducing facilities,” the report said.
State media isn’t believed to have reported on the trials in the past.
A switch More >
(Un)Covering North Korea
Feb 14th
Stanford University hosted a fascinating discussion on Monday that looked at the various ways in which the DPRK is covered from overseas.
Called “(Un)Covering North Korea,” it was part of a day-long series of events associated with the awarding of the 2012 Shorenstein Journalism Award to Barbara Demick, Beijing bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times, author of “Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea” and long-time North Korea watcher.
The discussion begins with Demick talking about her experiences covering the DPRK. She is followed by Susan Chira, assistant managing editor for news at the New York Times and a previous foreign editor at the newspaper, More >
Latest VOK broadcast on nuclear test
Feb 14th
A day after North Korea conducted its third nuclear test, the test was again in the news on Voice of Korea, North Korea’s international shortwave radio station, but it was far from the top story.
The lead item was a booklet published in Mongolia.
“Respected Kim Jong Un’s famous work, the great Kim Il Sung is the eternal leader of our party and our people was published in a booklet in Mongolia,” the announcer read out.
The nuclear test didn’t come until much later in the newscast, following items about an article about Kim Jong Un on a pro-North Korean website in the More >
