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Voice of Korea schedule for winter 2014/2015
Voice of Korea, North Korea’s international shortwave broadcasting station, adjusted its transmission schedule on October 26 for the winter 2014 and spring 2015 seasons. The broadcasts follow the same basic line-up each day. :00 Opening signal, station identification: “This is Voice of Korea” :01 National Anthem :03 Song of General Kim Il Sung :06 Song…
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SiliVaccine – North Korea’s anti-virus scanner
In a country where most computers aren’t connected to the Internet, an anti-virus scanner might not seem like much of a necessity. But since 2002, programmers in the country have been working on SiliVaccine, a home grown anti-virus application that is now in its fourth version. I was recently sent a current version that runs…
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North Korea bans WiFi at embassies
North Korea has banned the use of satellite Internet connections and WiFi networks by foreign embassies and international organizations unless they get government approval. The switch, which came in mid August, gives credibility to an earlier report that unencrypted wireless networks at embassies were being used by North Korean citizens to gain uncensored access to…
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Koryolink subscriptions hit 2.4 million
Subscriptions to Koryolink, North Korea’s only 3G mobile phone network, have just passed the 2.4 million mark, according to the latest figures from the operator. The figure represents a significant slowdown in growth in the last year over the previous year and points to the first big spurt in subscriptions being over. The carrier might have…
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South Korea’s Daum launches North Korean mapping service
Daum has launched a North Korean mapping service, becoming the first South Korean portal to offer maps of the country’s northern neighbor. The maps are based on data from South Korea’s National Geographic Information Institute (NGII) and, according to local media, provide greater coverage of North Korea than Google Maps. You can check the maps out for…
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South Korea’s Supreme Court confirms acquittal of Pyongyang retweeter
South Korea’s top court has upheld the acquittal of a free-speech activist for retweeting North Korean tweets, according to several local media reports. Park Jung-geun, a Seoul-based photographer, was arrested under the country’s anti-communist National Security Law for a series of tweets posted in late 2010 and early 2011. They included retweets from Uriminzokkiri, a China-based website with…
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A new look at newspapers on KCTV
Earlier this month, Korean Central Television rolled out updated opening graphics for its 5pm and 8pm evening newscasts. A closer look at the programming reveals it wasn’t the only part of the newscast that was given a new look. The newspaper review, which is a staple of the early evening 5pm bulletin, also has a…
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China detecting illegal border crossings with satellite
China is using a high-resolution earth observation satellite to detect illegal border crossings from the DPRK, Chinese state media reported on Monday. The Gaofen-1 satellite has been used to discover “about 10” such crossings both on the China-DPRK border and in the Xinjiang Uygur region of northwest China, said China Daily reported, quoting the China National Space…
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DPRK takes Ulchi war games protest to UN
North Korea has taken its protest of the Ulchi Freedom Guardian war games to the United Nations. Ja Song Nam, the DPRK’s ambassador to the U.N. sent a letter earlier this week to the president of the Security Council protesting the exercise, which is due to begin this weekend and involves thousands of troops in…
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Ulchi Freedom Guardian means lots of computers
As a computer-based war-game, the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise that begins this week in South Korea requires lots and lots of computers. In pictures released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Defense, some of those computers and the complexity of the set-up can be seen. The images and a video show the inside of the…
