North Korea conducts nuclear test
Feb 12th
North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test on Tuesday, according to state media. The test involved a “lighter, miniaturized atomic bomb,” reported the Korea Central News Agency.
“The test was conducted in a safe and perfect way on a high level with the use of a smaller and light A-bomb unlike the previous ones, yet with great explosive power,” the agency said in a brief report. The type of nuclear device was not detailed.
The test came after several weeks of warnings by North Korea, and was strongly condemned by its neighbors.
South Korea condemned it as an “unacceptable threat to regional peace” More >
Exclusive: Nosotek website hacked
Feb 11th
The website of Nosotek, the foreign-North Korean software programming joint venture, has been hacked. The site was hit sometime late Sunday or early Monday and its front page was replaced with a message in French, English and Korean attacking North Korea. [This story has been updated. Please see below.]
“The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea believes in an Atheist system of Communism, and promotes only the worship of its leaders. Why then, does Iran choose to work with them while claiming to be an Islamic state?”
Underneath were a couple of pictures of Kim Jong Un, one of him on a horse More >
Pyongyang’s solar street lamps
Feb 11th
New solar-powered street lamps were featured on the main 8pm evening news on North Korean state TV this week.
The solar panel and battery combo that powers the lamps was developed by Kim Chaek University of Technology and was introduced by an associate professor at the university named Cho Hyon Ho.
From the images, it’s possible to see a plate explaining the solar cell is based on a Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) compound. Here’s what Wikipedia says about such solar cells:
CdTe is used to make thin film solar cells, accounting for about 6 percent of all solar cells installed in 2010. They are among the lowest-cost types More >
KCNA website down? No, it’s still there
Feb 9th
If you’ve been looking for the Korea Central News Agency website over the last day or two, you’ve probably been unable to reach it.
Most browsers are returning an error message similar to this one in Chrome: “Oops! Google Chrome could not find www.kcna.kp.”
But the site is there.
An analysis by NorthKoreaTech.org has revealed the site is unavailable not because the server is down, but because it’s address is missing from the Internet’s Domain Name System (DNS). DNS converts easy-to-read addresses like “kcna.kp” into numeric addresses that computers use to route traffic.
In this case, typing the numeric address in yourself will pull More >
Activision cuts short North Korea’s space dreams
Feb 6th
That didn’t last long. U.S. video game maker Activision has filed a copyright takedown demand with YouTube resulting in the removal of a video that sees a North Korean man dream of reunification, Korean domination of space and the collapse of the United States.
Uriminzokkiri is a semi-official North Korean web site based in China. It speaks for the North Korean government and carries much of the output of state media, but it also produces its own content. The video was one such original piece.
The clip, posted on the Uriminzokkiri YouTube channel and website over the weekend, attracted a lot of interest on More >
Schmidt’s Internet message “well received,” says Richardson
Feb 3rd
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt’s message on the importance of embracing the Internet was “well received” in Pyongyang, according to Bill Richardson, a former governor of New Mexico.
Richardson, writing in The Washington Post on Friday, invited Schmidt to accompany him on a private trip to North Korea in January. During the trip, the delegation met with senior North Korean officials.
During our visit, Eric Schmidt, the co-leader of our delegation and the executive chairman of Google, spoke about the advantages of adopting the Internet and increased mobile technology. His message was well-received by officials, scientists and students. — “Time for a Reboot with North More >
Great National Unity website launches
Feb 1st
North Korea’s newest website, Great National Unity, launched Thursday.
The site is supposedly run by Pyongyang Broadcasting Station, the country’s radio station that targets Korean-language speakers in South Korea, Japan and China, and its imminent launch was announced by state radio earlier this week.
At first glance, the site appears largely consistent with web design on other North Korean websites. There are North Korean scenes, flowers, a map of the unified country and news stories about inter-Korean politics.
Perhaps one of the most interesting areas is a grid of views on the lower right hand side of the screen from Korea Central Television. Unfortunately, More >
North again ranked second worst for press freedom
Jan 31st
File this one under business as usual. North Korea was again ranked second-to-last in Reporters Without Borders’ annual press freedom index while South Korea continued to drop down the ranking.
The Paris-based press censorship watchdog ranked North Korea as 178th in its survey, just one rank above Eritrea.
“Kim Jong-un’s arrival at the head of the Hermit Kingdom has not in any way changed the regime’s absolute control of news and information,” the organization said in a statement.
North Korea and Eritrea have occupied the bottom two positions in the survey since 2007. Prior to that year, North Korea was ranked bottom from More >
Pyongyang Broadcasting Station to launch website
Jan 30th
Pyongyang Broadcasting Station (평양방송), North Korea’s Korean-language radio station aimed at nearby countries, is launching a website this week, according to announcements made Tuesday on domestic and international broadcasts.
The new website will be called “Grand National Unity” and will be available at www.gnu.rep.kp from February 1st, according to the announcements. That site currently holds a test page for the Apache web server.
The site is the latest from the country carrying national news and propaganda to international audiences. While its adoption of the Internet for propagation of information has been slow, it has been steady and new sites have slowly been appearing. Other More >
Google Maps adds data on North Korea
Jan 29th
Google’s on a bit of a North Korean kick at the moment. Just weeks after its chairman, Eric Schmidt, made a high-profile visit to Pyongyang, the company has added additional detail about the county to Google Maps.
Roads, subway stations, parks and some major monuments and buildings are on the new map, which became available on Monday.
Google typically buys such information from local providers but in countries like North Korea where commercial digital maps are not available, it relies on citizen submissions made through Google Map Maker. That’s exactly how the company compiled this first version of its map.
Look at the More >
