Technology
Japan indicts two over PC exports to North Korea
Feb 2nd
Japanese prosecutors have indicted two people over alleged exports of personal computers to North Korea, Kyodo news agency reported Wednesday.
The two are accused of exporting 8.2 million yen (US$108,000) worth of computers from Japan in violation of the Japanese government’s trade sanctions. Japan has imposed a complete ban on exports to North Korea since June 2009.
The computers were allegedly sent to the Korea Computer Center, the Pyongyang-based computer research center.
An earlier report by Sankei Biz said the computers were shipped in July and December of 2010 under falsified papers that claimed they were heading to Shenyang, China, and Seoul. The shipment contained about More >
What’s wrong with these pictures?
Jan 8th
North Korea’s state news agency published a couple of images on January 4th that appear to show Pyongyang factory workers checking or testing laptop computers. But a closer look reveals something odd about the pictures.
The images were published with a brief caption that claimed: “Employees of the Electronics Corporation under the Ministry of Electronics Industry work hard to develop new varieties of products in response to the call of the joint New Year editorial.”
The New Year Editorial, a staple of North Korea and annual indicator of the state’s priorities in the coming year, called this year for the country to More >
National Program Contest underway in Pyongyang
Oct 29th
The annual National Program Contest began on Thursday in Pyongyang, according to North Korean media reports.
The event, which typically takes place in late October each year, opened at the city’s Three Revolution Exhibition Hall with speeches led by Ro Tu Chol, vice-premier of the DPRK Cabinet.
The contest brings together scientists, programmers and students with more than 1,500 computer software programs, reported KCNA. The software is divided into sixteen categories including operating system and security, artificial intelligence and image processing.
North Korean has been pushing software development for the last decade and the event is one of the biggest exhibitions of developed programs.
A series More >
North Korea’s character set
Sep 6th
A couple of months ago I wrote about the ways North Korean websites show respect to Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il by increasing the font size when writing their names. In a reply to that article, a reader mentioned North Korea’s official character set: the country’s official list of Hangul and other characters and how they are coded on a computer.
If you use a computer in more than one language then you’ve probably come across character encodings before. In the past you’d often have to switch a browser to the correct character encoding to get a page to display More >
Philippines donates computers to Pyongyang school
Jul 6th
The Philippines donated a laptop PC, a desktop computer and a printer to a school in Pyongyang last week, the country’s Department of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday.
The gift was handed to Pyongyang Kaeson Middle School by Philippines Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Policy Erlinda F. Basilio. She was in in Pyongyang for scheduled talks with North Korea’s Foreign Ministry.
Established in August 1960 and located in Pyongyang’s Moranbong District, Pyongyang Kaeson Middle School was designated the Philippines-DPRK Friendship School on 23 August 2010, as part of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The school is More >
IPhone app takes users inside North Korea
Jun 30th
Fotopedia North Korea is a new iPhone and iPad app that takes users on a tour of North Korea through the photographs of Eric Lafforgue.
Lafforgue says he visited the DPRK four times between 2008 and 2010 to snap the more than 1,000 images available in the application. The photos cover the culture, sights, scenes, art, people and places of contemporary North Korea
A series of icons runs along the left-hand side of the screen providing access to context for some of the images. For example, click the “info” icon on a picture of Kim Il Sung and you’ll get a text More >
Kim Jong Il on tour in China
Jun 13th
Kim Jong Il’s tour of China at the end of May saw the North Korean leader take in several high-tech factories and companies.
China Central Television (CCTV) broadcast a comprehensive report on the visit (aired after Kim had left Beijing) and provided details on some of the tour stops.
They included Yangzhou Smart Valley, the country’s Smart Grid Demonstration Center. There Kim got a demonstration of an e-book reader. He also visited Panda Group, a large manufacturer of consumer electronics products, and Beijing Digital China, an IT services company.
Kim Jong Il’s visit to Panda Electronics in Nanjing was caught on camera and More >
Is this North Korea’s netbook?
Jun 9th
The North Korean netbook highlighted in a state TV report in March appears to be made in China.
After posting an entry about the device and two other computers, both available in North Korea according to the TV report, several readers pointed out that one of the computers bears a remarkable similarity to low-cost netbooks on sale in several countries around the world.
Most often cited was the “Sylvania” netbook on sale at CVS stores in the U.S. A similar laptop is also available in several other countries and can be found on several online stores and eBay.
So, where does it come More >
North Korean laptop PCs
May 25th
The North Korean state TV evening news recently provided a glimpse at one slice of the country’s PC manufacturing industry. (Update: A similar PC has been spotted in the U.S. Read below)
The report took viewers to the factory and introduced the three computers being made, two of which are laptops and one of which is intended to be used with a television.
The report aired on March 10 and I was intending to write about it on March 11 … then the earthquake struck. I’ve finally had time to do it, and you can read my piece here on PC World: More >
Homefront: Battling North Korean invasion
Feb 12th
The year is 2027 and the Greater Korean Federation, a North Korea-controlled bloc of Asian nations, has been occupying San Francisco for two years. This is the fictional — and many would say unlikely — setting for Homefront, a video game that hits U.S. shelves on March 15.
The game pits the player, a member of the U.S. resistance, against Korean Federation forces in the battle to liberate San Francisco. It’s developed by Kaos Studios, and was written by John Milius, who is best known for Apocalypse Now and Red Dawn.
“Homefront is set ten years after the economic collapse of the More >
