Posts tagged IDG
Dot-KP domain names are back
Jan 11th
North Korea’s Dot-KP domain name system returned to the Internet in the last few days. (See the bottom of this post for updates.)
Offline for months, the service has resumed via servers run by Star JV, the Internet joint venture formed by the North Korean government and Thailand’s Loxley Pacific. As reported previously, dot-kp was run by the KCC Europe operation in Germany but went offline in the third quarter of last year.
Two websites are already available via KP domain names. Both are hosted on the same web server. The first, Naenara, has been available for a few months via an More >
KP domains could be back online soon
Jan 4th
North Korea’s dot-kp domain space could be back on the Internet soon. Domain name servers responsible for dot-kp have been offline for several months as have a handful of websites that used them.
With no servers the entire dot-kp address space, which only amounted to a handful of sites, has been out of operation. On Monday the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), which coordinates the Internet’s top-level domains, updated the KP information to point to new servers.
Here’s more on the story, including some background about dot-kp’s mysterious disappearance:
- North Korea moves to bring KP top-level domain back online, Network World, Jan. 3, More >
South seeks block on DPRK Internet propaganda
Dec 23rd
South Korea’s government is planning to further restrict its citizens from accessing, discussing or forwarding North Korean propaganda activity on social-networking services, such as Twitter.
The plans were outlined in the Justice Ministry’s plan for 2011, which was presented on Tuesday, although lacked specifics.
The South already blocks about 30 pro-North Korean websites although never had to worry about social media until Uriminzokkiri launched a Twitter feed earlier this year.
Here’s the full story at Network World.
The moves follows the sinking of the Cheonan and shelling of Yeonpyeong island and comes despite an already tightening grip on South Korean netizens.
According to a report More >
Koryolink Q3 2010 results
Nov 9th
Third-quarter financial results for Koryolink have been announced by majority-owner Orascom Telecom and what a quarter it was! The network managed record growth and revenue, thanks largely to network expansion.
Koryolink is North Korea’s only 3G cellular network and is operated by CHEO Technology, a joint venture in which Orascom holds 75 percent and the state run Korea Posts and Telecommunications Co. holds the remainder.
I covered the headline figures in this article at PC World: Koryolink Logs Big Jump in North Korean Cell Phone Users.
Here, I’d like to look a little bit more closely at the numbers.
Quarterly revenue hit a record More >
North Korea gets a new PDA
Nov 5th
North Korean shops have begun selling a new PDA (personal digital assistant), according to the blog of a Russian studying in the country.
The Pyongyang Show and Tell blog, which also introduced us to Red Flag Linux, has some pictures of the PDA and a few technical specs.
It appears to be very much in the style of the PDAs or multimedia players that were popular in the early to mid part of the last decade. There’s no branding on the case that’s visible from the images.
I contacted the student, who doesn’t want to be identified, and asked him a little bit More >
How digital technology helps get news from North Korea
Nov 2nd
Today I had the chance to meet and hear Jiro Ishimaru of AsiaPress speak at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan. He was there to talk about how the Japanese news agency manages a small network of North Koreans who report from inside the country and smuggle out images and video.
The network is fascinating to hear about, as are Ishimaru’s stories about information flow both ways across the Chinese border.
Some snippets:
- Most young people in major cities have seen South Korean TV dramas.
- The dramas are recorded in China from satellite broadcasts and appear quickly in local markets.
- They are smuggled into North Korea, More >
South Korea now blocking new KCNA site
Oct 21st
South Korea has begun blocking domestic access to the recently launched KCNA website that operates from North Korea’s IP space. Internet users trying to access the site now get redirected to the National Police Agency’s static warning page.
The move isn’t a surprise. The writing was on the wall for the website as soon as it started getting reported in South Korean media.
I checked this afternoon and the government hasn’t blocked the entire IP address range. Right now it looks like it’s just affecting the single KCNA website.
Here’s my story: PC World
Pyongyang gets social
Sep 5th
Uriminzokkiri.com, the closest thing North Korea has to an official home page, got social in July when it joined Twitter and Facebook.
The move generated lots of publicity and helped drive Internet users to follow its tweets and status-updates, but also drew the attention of the governments in Seoul and Washington.
Uriminzokkiri’s moves into social media began a few weeks earlier with the launch of a YouTube channel, but that was largely unnoticed. A few news organizations picked up on the launch including AFP, which provided a sense of the channel’s content.
One English-language video with a duration of five minutes and 56 More >
North Korea moves quietly to the Internet
Jun 11th
North Korea, one of the world’s few remaining information black holes, has taken the first step toward a fully fledged connection to the Internet.
Radio Wars across the 38th parallel
Jun 10th
Everday North and South Korea send news, information and propaganda across the 38th parallel. This video looks at that battle of the airwaves.
