Kim Jong Un probably doesn’t want you to see these either
Dec 22nd
Whether North Korea is behind the hacking of Sony or not, it’s certainly not too pleased with the movie and doesn’t want it shown. Sony pulled the movie from theaters and said Sunday it’s figuring out a video-on-demand related. In the meantime, here are a few move videos that Pyongyang probably doesn’t like too much: This report, from the CBS show “60 Minutes,” interviews Shin Dong-hyuk. He was born in “Camp 14,” a North Korean labor camp, and managed to escape to tell the tale of the horrors of North Korea’s gulags.
Sky News goes to South Korea to talk to North More >
North Korea responds to hack allegations
Dec 21st
North Korea has reacted angrily to U.S. assertions that it was behind a devastating cyber attack on Sony Pictures.
[UPDATE: The TV announcement is below the English statement]
The official state-run news agency carried a statement from the country’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday that promised “serious consequences” if a joint investigation with the DPRK doesn’t tale place.
It’s not the first time this year the country has demanded a joint investigation into international allegations against it. In May, the country wanted such after it was accused of responsibility for three drones found crashed in South Korea near the shared border with North Korea. The country More >
State Dept. remarks on Sony hack
Dec 20th
Just as President Obama’s news conference was wrapping up, the State Department news conference was beginning.
The questions were a little more detailed, as you’d expect from reporters who understand the ins and outs of U.S. foreign relations so well. They centered around the option of putting North Korea back on the list of state sponsors of terror and what effect that might have. And they also came back to the issue of whether State Dept. officials saw the movie before and signed off on the scenes.
The reporters reference a letter sent by Senator Robert Menendez, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to Secretary More >
Obama on hack: dictators can’t impose censorship in the U.S.
Dec 20th
Hours after the FBI fingered North Korea as responsible for the cyber attack on Sony, President Obama spoke at his year-end news conference. The first question asked was regarding the Sony hack and his response to the news of North Korea’s involvement. The president spoke forcefully and strongly about Sony’s decision to pull the movie, what it means for freedom and speech and then onto broader cyberspace themes.
I’ve reproduced some of the key quotes below, and here’s the full video:
“Sony is a corporation, it suffered significant damage, there were threats against its employees. I am sympathetic to the concerns that More >
FBI blames North Korea for Sony hack
Dec 20th
The FBI has blamed North Korea for the massive cyber attack on Sony.
Here’s the agency’s statement in full:
Today, the FBI would like to provide an update on the status of our investigation into the cyber attack targeting Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE). In late November, SPE confirmed that it was the victim of a cyber attack that destroyed systems and stole large quantities of personal and commercial data. A group calling itself the “Guardians of Peace” claimed responsibility for the attack and subsequently issued threats against SPE, its employees, and theaters that distribute its movies.
The FBI has determined that the intrusion into More >
DOD on acts of war in cyberspace
Dec 20th
Friday’s news conference at the Department of Defense came before the FBI blamed North Korea for the attack on Sony, but Pentagon spokesman John Kirby did address issues surrounding cyber defense and the sticky question of what exactly is an “act of war” on the Internet.
“I’m not able to lay out in any specificity for you what would be or wouldn’t be an act of war in the cyber domain. It’s not like there is a demarkation line that exists in some sort of fixed space on what is or isn’t,” he said.
“The cyber domain remains challenging, it remains very fluid. More >
Harsh reaction follows Sony’s canceling of “The Interview”
Dec 19th
A day after Sony said it would not be releasing “The Interview” movie in theaters, on DVDs or online, reaction from Hollywood, politicians and TV commentators in the U.S. has been harsh.
The mood was perhaps summed up best by Rob Lowe:
Wow. Everyone caved. The hackers won. An utter and complete victory for them. Wow.
— Rob Lowe (@RobLowe) December 17, 2014
Seth Rogen has been quiet, probably at the request of Sony Pictures, but Rob Lowe said he had bumped into him at the airport.
Saw @Sethrogen at JFK. Both of us have never seen or heard of anything like this. Hollywood has done More >
Sony pulls ‘The Interview’
Dec 18th
So much for standing up to terrorists.
Bowing to the demands of hackers and handing them a major victory, Sony said Wednesday that it is pulling “The Interview” from movie theaters.
The movie, which was due to open on December 25, follows two American showbiz reporters offered the chance to interview Kim Jong Un. Before they leave, they are co-opted by the CIA to assassinate the North Korean leader.
Sony’s decision came a day after hackers released a database of emails belonging to Michael Lynton, CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment and with it a message threatening harm if the movie screening went ahead.
A message posted More >
US declassifies Pueblo incident narrative
Dec 15th
The U.S. Air Force has declassified part of a history of the Pueblo incident, the 1968 capture of the electronics and signals intelligence ship U.S.S. Pueblo by North Korean forces.
The document was prepared by the U.S. Air Force Security Service in April 1968 and provides a detailed narrative of the incident, with timings down to the minute, and is almost completely uncensored.
It was provided to The Government Attic website in November in response to a Freedom of Information request made in 2008. The website posted it this week.
There are lots of interesting parts to the story of the Pueblo, which More >
Kim Il Sung University opens website
Dec 13th
Kim Il Sung University, North Korea’s most prestigious seat of higher learning, has become the first university in the country to launch a website on the global Internet.
The site is available in Korean and English and is being served from a computer in Pyongyang. It joins a handful of other websites that are run by the North Korean government and accessible from outside of the country.
The website of Kim Il Sung University (Photo: North Korea Tech)
The site is available at http://www.ryongnamsan.edu.kp
There’s much of what you would expect on a university website: a history, areas of study, an outline of some of More >
