North Korea YouTube List updated
Feb 9th
It’s been almost a year since I published the second edition of The North Korea YouTube List, a survey of YouTube channels that carry material related to North Korea.
The latest version includes several new channels and changes throughout.
Perhaps the biggest change is that the DPRK Music Channel, previously ranked as the most popular DPRK-related channel with 11.7-million views, has stopped updating. The last video was uploaded eight months ago.
However, its popularity and the large number of videos means it remains the top-ranking channel with 16.5-million views.
The second-ranked channel and the most popular one still being updated is the Stimme Koreas More >
TV Review: Educating North Korea
Feb 4th
The BBC’s Panorama news documentary series visited The Pyongyang University of Science and Technology recently for a revealing look behind the unique school.
The program, broadcast on BBC One on February 3, begins summarizing the Kim’s control over the country and its people and reminds us that Kim Jong Un recently had his uncle, Jang Song Thaek, put to death.
“Remarkably, weeks before his death, we gained access to North Korea to film a pioneering experiment,” said reporter Chris Rogers during the introduction.
Although perhaps more remarkable than the timing of the visit is that is happened at all.
The last time Panorama tackled North More >
North Korea’s Red Star OS goes Mac
Jan 31st
Poor Microsoft. It seems North Korea doesn’t like the traditional Windows-look anymore.
The latest version of the country’s home-grown operating system, Red Star Linux, has been restyled and ships with a desktop that closely resembles Apple’s Mac OSX. The previous version was based on the popular KDE desktop that mimicked that of Windows 7.
Red Star Linux was developed by the Korea Computer Center (KCC), a major center of software programming in Pyongyang, and is based on Linux, the open-source operating system originally developed by Linus Torvalds.
Open-source software is offered to the world under a license that allows anyone to adapt and More >
Japan, US to increase intelligence sharing
Jan 30th
Japan is sharing an increasing amount of intelligence information with the United States and emerging as a great partner in East Asia, the U.S. director of national intelligence said Thursday.
Speaking during a public hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee in Washington, James Clapper said the two countries were working more closely together on intelligence matters.
“The Japanese are emerging as great partners,” said Clapper.
Clapper was responding to a question from Senator Marco Rubio (Republican, Florida), about a recently-passed Japanese state secrecy law. Rubio said he had just returned from a trip to Asia that included Japan.
“The passage of this secrets protection law will … enable More >
Internet access, computers and high-tech life at PUST
Jan 30th
Will Scott, a computer scientist from Washington state, just returned from several months as a guest lecturer at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST).
In an interview with North Korea Tech and in posts on Reddit, Scott spoke about what it’s like to be at PUST.
This is part two of a three-part series. Part one published yesterday covered life at PUST and part three looks at North Korea’s Red Star Linux.
A computer terminal at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology shows a web page (Will Scott)
When PUST was first proposed, the school said it was intending to use a satellite More >
Experiences of a PUST teacher
Jan 29th
Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) is one of the more ambitious international ventures in North Korea of the last few years.
Almost ten years in planning, PUST is the country’s first privately-run university and backed with funds from evangelical Christian organizations in the U.S. and overseas.
It currently has several hundred students and guest lecturers make semester-long commitments to PUST and travel from overseas to teach students.
One such lecturer, Will Scott from Washington state, has just returned from the university.
Through a series of posts on Reddit and in emails with North Korea Tech, Scott provided a glimpse into what it’s More >
New CRS report on North Korea
Jan 28th
The Congressional Research Service has published a new report on North Korea.
The report, “U.S. Relations, Nuclear Diplomacy, and Internal Situation,” is embedded below.
CRS works for the U.S. Congress and produces objective and impartial reports that are intended to provide policy makers in the House and Senate with analysis of current issues. The organization is a part of the Library of Congress.
DPRK UN ambassador takes questions, gives advice
Jan 26th
It’s not often that a North Korean official faces a skeptical press corps and takes questions. Judging by Friday’s appearance at the United Nations by DPRK Ambassador Sin Son-ho, it’s even rarer that they provide answers to those questions.
Sin called a news conference at the U.N. in New York on Friday morning to announce North Korea’s proposal to lay steps towards “national reconciliation and unity” with South Korea.
His comments echoed those of North Korea’s National Defence Commission, which earlier in the day published the proposal through the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
A key demand is that the U.S. and South Korean More >
Unification Ministry to launch North Korean portal on Monday
Jan 24th
South Korea’s Ministry of Unification will launch on Monday a new web portal focused on North Korea.
The North Korea Information Portal, or NK Info for short, is intended to provide South Koreans with up to date information on the DPRK, the Unification Ministry said.
Information on the site will be divided in several main sections: political, military, economic, social, cultural and education.
Within those sections, subsections will further organize the available data.
For example, within the political category there will be sections covering the main ideology of the DPRK, its political system, its power structure and significant figures and its efforts in diplomacy.
One of More >
‘No discernible improvement’ in DPRK human rights in 2013
Jan 22nd
Human Rights Watch says it has seen “no discernible improvement” in the human rights situation in North Korea since Kim Jong Un took power in late 2011.
The verdict, which likely comes as no surprise to anyone that watches the country, was included in the New York-based group’s annual “World Report” on human rights in countries around the world.
“The government continues to impose totalitarian rule,” the report said.
Five pages are devoted to North Korea and sum up the government’s use of torture and executions, prison camps, restrictions on movement, refugees and labor rights.
On the issue of freedom of access to information, the report More >
