Anonymous claims hack of North Korean servers
Jun 22nd
A poster produced by an Anonymous member advertising the group’s planned June 25 attack on North Korean websites.
A Twitter user claiming to speak on behalf of the Anonymous hacker collective says members of the group have succeeded in breaking into North Korean computer servers and stealing military documents.
“Previously we said we would penetrate the intranet and private networks of North Korea. And we were successful,” the group wrote in a news release posted on Pastebin, a website that allows anonymous posting of text documents.
“Your major missile documentation and residents, military documents show down is already in progress. Your attempt to cover More >
KCTV Facebook page deleted, but streams live on
Jun 14th
A Facebook page that claimed to be the official home of North’s Korea’s main national TV channel, Korean Central Television, has disappeared.
The page appeared to have been around for at least a month and content included links to KCTV news bulletins on the YouTube channel of the China-based Uriminzokkiri website, photos and stories from the government’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) and some “behind the scenes” pictures from the TV station.
It was written as if it was being run from within the TV station in Pyongyang — something that appears to have fooled several major international news agencies — but More >
Ham radio operators hope to put North Korea on the air
Jun 11th
A group of amateur radio operators are hoping to get permission from the North Korean government for a month-long trip to the country during which they’ll set up a ham radio operation.
If they manage to pull off the plan, they’ll have succeeded where few have before.
North Korea has no amateur radio operators and government-sanctioned transmissions by foreigners in the country are extremely rare. This makes North Korea the rarest country for contacts in the amateur radio world.
The project is still in the planning phase but is being led by operators with experience of both North Korea and operating in usually closed countries. More >
Live from Pyongyang, it’s KCTV on Facebook … or maybe not
Jun 10th
On Thursday, South Korea’s Yonhap reported on a new Facebook page in the name of the Korean Central Television, North Korea’s national TV station. (Updated. See below.)
Yonhap said, “North Korea’s state broadcaster started real-time Facebook broadcasting as the communist country moves to expand its propaganda efforts into the social networking realm, official sources said Thursday.”
In never divulged who the “official sources” were beyond describing them as people “who keep tabs on the North.”
Later in the day, Agence France Presse reported the same Facebook page, reporting on the news of Kim Jong Un’s visit to a mushroom farm in the first news bulletin of More >
North Korea’s Android-based Achim tablet on video
Jun 4th
North Korea’s Achim (Morning) tablet PC will soon become a year old. The tablet, which runs the Android operating system, was first unveiled in July 2012 as a computer to help education.
It was the second tablet PC unveiled by the country. The first came from the Korea Computer Center and a third, called Samjiyon, was unveiled later in the year.
Since it has appeared, the DPRK’s state media has carried several stories about the success of the Achim tablet PC in the teaching and learning markets. It’s said to contain reference books, foreign-language dictionaries and scientific data. KCNA reported it weighs about More >
Koryolink hits 2 million subscribers
Jun 2nd
North Korea’s Koryolink cellular network has hit the 2 million subscriber mark, majority owner Orascom Telecom said this week.
The landmark was reached in late May, 15 months after it surpassed the million subscriber mark.
Koryolink launched its 3G cellular service in the final days of December 2008 and in the last four years has expanded service to cover all major towns, highways and railways in North Korea.
“When we first acquired the license in North Korea, people thought the service will only be provided to a few privileged individuals,” said Naguib Sawiris, Executive Chairman of Orascom Telecom Media and Technology in a statement. “We are More >
Voice of Korea’s shortwave broadcasts now on-demand
May 28th
The daily English-language broadcast from North Korea’s international radio station, Voice of Korea, is now available on the Internet.
The programme is being carried by World Radio Network, a London-based organization that rebroadcasts material from international radio stations on its own satellite channels and via FM relays in several countries.
Most of the WRN programming is received in studio quality via satellite or Internet, but the Voice of Korea programs are a recording from the shortwave broadcasts.
That means they come with all the atmospheric interference and fading that is typical of shortwave.
For the daily news, the audio clips on the Voice of More >
Spring Trade Fair wraps up
May 21st
The 16th Pyongyang Spring International Trade Fair wrapped up at the end of last week. I‘ve taken a look through some of the footage from Korean national television and KCNA and spotted a few companies that were exhibiting.
At last year’s trade fair, the Korea Computer Center debuted a new tablet PC. This year didn’t see any major launches of new IT equipment, at least according to the media coverage, but there were tablet computers on show.
One of the companies highlighted in the national TV coverage was Achim Panda Computer JV, also known as Morning Panda Computer. The company was established More >
Google on North Korean maps
May 18th
The recent addition of North Korea to Google’s Maps service made up a small part of the company’s presentation to developers at its annual conference on Wednesday.
Brian McClendon, vice president of Google Maps, spoke about adding data and what it meant during at keynote speech at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco.
North Korea had been a largely white area of Google Maps until it started publishing user-supplied data. Now a little information on Pyongyang and some of the major towns is included in the service, although it’s still far from complete.
Curtis Melvin’s North Korea Uncovered, even in the latest More >
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 >
