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Is this North Koreas first Bitcoin transaction?
Bitcoin has arrived in North Korea … sort of. A tourist on a trip to Pyongyang used the Koryolink mobile Internet service to make what is supposedly the first transaction in the country using the virtual currency. But it wasn’t a payment to anyone in the DPRK. The US$100 payment (just under 104 milliBitcoins)…
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FBI updates FISA notice as Tsai case continues
The U.S. government’s case against two Taiwanese businessmen accused of attempting to illegally exporting machinery to North Korea continues its slow path towards a trial. Hsien Tai “Alex” Tsai, 67, and his son, Yueh Hsun “Gary” Tsai, 36, were arrested and charged in May last year. Alex Tsai was in Estonia at the time and subsequently…
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Wikipedia enters North Korea … via balloon
The Korean-language version of Wikipedia, pro-democracy literature and entertainment were among the contents on USB sticks recently sent via balloon into North Korea. Twenty balloons, each carrying several large bags of propaganda materials, were launched on Wednesday from Paju, close to the inter-Korean border, according to Human Rights Foundation, a New York-based NGO that focuses on…
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BBC’s reasoning against a Korean service a ‘ruse,’ says group
A U.K.-based group that’s campaigning for the BBC to launch a Korean-language service says the broadcaster’s assertion that North Korean jamming would hamper reception is a “ruse.” The European Alliance for Human Rights in North Korea (EAHRNK) says the BBC can’t prove whether a hypothetical Korean service would be jammed or not. Jamming is the deliberate…
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IJuche app banned in South Korea
A recently-launched iPhone app that delivers articles from the Korean Central News Agency to iPhones and iPads has been banned in South Korea. The app, iJuche, was developed and published in late 2013 and was highlighted on NorthKoreaTech earlier this week. That publicity was apparently enough to get it blocked. “I just got a call…
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TV Review: Secret State of North Korea
The harsh, closed world of North Korea and the lengths the state goes to keep people under control reached primetime television in the U.S. on Tuesday evening. Frontline, the premiere news documentary program of the U.S. Public Broadcasting System (PBS) network, aired an edition focused on the DPRK called “Secret State of North Korea.” For…
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BBC decides against service for North Korea
The BBC World Service has decided not to launch a service aimed at North Korea, concluding any programming aimed at the country would face an uncertain audience and not be cost-effective. The decision was relayed in a letter from British Foreign Secretary William Hague to the U.K. Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee. The BBC World Service is…
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App lets you keep up with KCNA on iPhone, iPad
If you use an Apple iPhone or iPad, there’s a new app that lets you stay current with news from the Korean Central News Agency. IJuche is the product of work by Peter Curtis, who says he became fascinated with the DPRK after reading Andrew Holloway’s “A Year in Pyongyang.” “When I decided that I…
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Kim Jong Un’s new year address
For the second year in a row, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appeared on state TV and radio on January 1 to deliver a new year address to his nation. The direct address was something of a surprise when it happened last year as Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il, was rarely heard speaking on…
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Another push for BBC Korea
There’s a new push behind efforts to get the BBC World Service to launch a Korean-language service for North Korea. A group called The European Alliance for Human Rights in North Korea (EAHRNK) has published a report making a case for such a service and just launched an online petition. In its report, EAHRNK argues that North Korean…
