Author: Martyn Williams

  • Exclusive: North Korea’s Samjiyon tablet — Made in China?

    Exclusive: North Korea’s Samjiyon tablet — Made in China?

    One of the most interesting questions surrounding North Korea’s Samjiyon tablet is its source. State media reports not withstanding, the tablet is almost certainly not made in North Korea — the country just doesn’t have the electronics manufacturing capability to design products like tablet computers from the components up. And anyway, why bother? Companies in Taiwan…

  • Review: Samjiyon tablet

    Review: Samjiyon tablet

    North Korea, like the rest of the world, is getting hooked on tablet computers. In the last year, state media has highlighted three different tablet computers that are now, according to the reports, available in the country. The latest of these, the Samjiyon (???), is also on sale to foreigners and one of the tablets…

  • WRN adds satellite-fed Voice of Korea broadcasts

    WRN adds satellite-fed Voice of Korea broadcasts

    High-quality recordings of Voice of Korea programs are now available on-demand via the London-based World Radio Network. Voice of Korea is North Korea’s international radio broadcaster. WRN, which rebroadcasts international radio stations, previously experimented with offering Voice of Korea shortwave programs, but the quality of the reception was poor and the service ended a few…

  • Some North Korean external radio, jamming reportedly off air

    Some North Korean external radio, jamming reportedly off air

    Numerous broadcasts of North Korea’s external radio service and some of the country’s jamming of foreign radio stations has been off air in the last few days, according to several reports. Voice of Korea, which broadcasts in several languages on shortwave to audiences outside of the country, missed many of its scheduled transmissions on July…

  • South suspects North Korean hackers hit on June 25

    South suspects North Korean hackers hit on June 25

    The South Korean government says it suspects hackers in North Korea were behind a series of cyber attacks last month. The attacks took place on June 25, the anniversary of the beginning of the Korean war, and continued for several days. When they began, several South Korean government and private-run websites were defaced or taken…

  • South Korea’s jamming of North Korean radio

    South Korea’s jamming of North Korean radio

    North Korea’s attempts to block the flow of information from the outside world to its people are well know and well documented, but much less known is South Korea’s attempts to keep its citizens from having unrestricted access to media from North Korea. The country’s national Internet firewall makes it fairly easy to keep curious…

  • Ham radio operators to refine DPRK plans

    Two ham radio operators hoping to get permission to set up a temporary amateur radio station in North Korea have returned from a trip to the country and have plans to visit again. Paul Ewing (N6PSE) and David Flack (AH6HY) of the “Intrepid DX” group wrote that they will refine their proposal and “continue to…

  • “DarkSeoul” behind some South Korean hacks, says Symantec

    “DarkSeoul” behind some South Korean hacks, says Symantec

    A hacking group called “DarkSeoul” was behind some of this week’s attacks on South Korean websites, according to researchers at computer security company Symantec. The company says the group was responsible for denial of service attacks on South Korean government websites and can be directly linked to similar actions in the past. “We can now…

  • Analyzing the June 25 DDoS attacks

    Tuesday’s series of denial of service attacks on major North Korean websites caused delays and frustration for legitimate users but doesn’t appear to have been as large or successful as the first round of attacks in late March and early April this year. Analysis by NorthKoreaTech.org of data related to the attacks shows the so-called…

  • Hackers attack North, South Korean websites

    The previously announced June 25 attack on North Korean websites by hackers working under the “Anonymous” name took an unexpected turn on Tuesday when several South Korean sites were hit with attacks. The actions coincided with the release of what hackers said were stolen files on American military personnel. The North Korean attack did start…