Posts tagged National Security Law
North Korean TV currently live streaming
Dec 8th
North Korea’s main television propaganda mouthpiece is currently available over the Internet. The live stream of Korean Central Television appears to be originate from a South Korean web site — something that puts the site operator in potential violation of South Korea’s National Security Law.
Korean Central Television broadcasts nationwide to North Korea and is relayed over the Thaicom 5 satellite to most of Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Its terrestrial signal can also be received in some areas along the country’s northern border with China and Russia, but its signal south of the border is disrupted by South Korean government More >
Around 40 questioned over “pro-NK” Internet postings
Oct 20th
Authorities in South Korea are questioning around 40 people over Internet postings said to be in support of North Korea, according to several local news reports.
(Update: The Dong-a-Ilbo reports around 70 are under criminal probe on suspicion of circulating materials praising North Korea online in violation of the National Security Law.)
The material was posted on personal websites and the now defunct “Cyber Command for National Defense” website, according to Yonhap. The site, which was shutdown late last year, had about 6,500 members of whom about 600 were judged to be at its core, according to previous estimates.
Last week police confiscated the server on More >
Seoul eyes harsher crackdown on “pro-NK” websites
Oct 14th
South Korean prosecutors are launching a crackdown on websites and users judged to be posting “pro-North Korean” material, according to several local press reports.
The action comes as regulators judge the amount of such material available to South Korean citizens has “mushroomed to a risky level,” according to prosecutors quoted by Yonhap News said.
North Korea’s state-run media outlets have spent the last year launching several propaganda-filled sites that report on aspects of life in the country and extol the benefits of the country’s political system and its leaders. The outlets have also expanded onto social media with Twitter, Facebook and YouTube channels.
The ease with More >
South Korea’s online blocking sharply rose in 2010
Sep 18th
The number of requests by South Korean police for the deletion of Internet content alleged to be pro-North Korean has soared in the past two years, according to a report in the Dong-A Ilbo.
Police submitted 80,449 requests to the Korea Communications Standards Commission for the removal of online postings in 2010. That compares to 14,430 in 2009 and just 1,793 in 2008 and represents a 45-fold increase over the last two years, the newspaper said.
The annual deletions of North Korean content were pretty constant during the middle of the last decade at between 1,000 and 1,500 per year. They began More >
Koryo Tours hits out at South Korean web block
Aug 1st
Koryo Tours, the Beijing-based travel agent that specializes in tours of North Korea, says South Korea has “over reacted” in blocking its website since the beginning of this year.
The websites koryotours.com and koryogroup.com have been unavailable from South Korean Internet connections since January 26 this year, apparently a casualty of South Korea’s campaign to stop its citizens from seeing North Korean content.
“This came as a complete surprise – we had not been notified in advance or asked to explain particular content, nor notified afterwards and given an explanation,” the company said in a statement.
Koryo Tours said it arranged a meeting with the More >
Software engineer could have spied for North
May 3rd
South Korean authorities are investigating whether a software engineer with links to North Korea stole government data and passed it to the country, according to several reports from Seoul.
The reports say the man allegedly stole information between 2005 and 2010 while working for a computer company tasked with developing software and systems for the South Korean government, reported The Associated Press from Seoul.
The man, who has not been identified, was convicted in 2002 of posting pro-North Korean information on websites, said the AP.
Despite that conviction, he was allowed to join a project working on the Korean Joint Command and Control More >
South Korea steps up blocking of DPRK sites
Jan 14th
South Korea has begun blocking Naenara and several of its sub-sites. The move comes days after the site reactivated its dot-kp North Korean domain name and plugs a long-standing hole in South Korea’s cyber wall against North Korean online propaganda.
The blocking, first reported by Yonhap, results in South Korean Internet users being redirected to the National Police Agency’s warning site (pictured right.)
It has also taken out the Korea Sports Fund’s Faster Korea page, an out-of-date page for the Pyongyang International Trade Fair, and the sites of the Cholsan Patent and Trademark Agency and Koryo PAT Rainbow patent agency.
Naenara is 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 >
