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Pirate Bay comes clean on North Korea hoax
A little less than 24 hours after it first claimed to have set up shop in North Korea, The Pirate Bay website has confirmed what most observers suspected: it was all a hoax. Writing of the announcement and user reaction to its earlier claim, the site said it was a “stunt.” It even chastised some…
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The Pirate Bay says it’s gone to North Korea
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any more bizarre than Dennis Rodman hugging Kim Jong Un, the operators of The Pirate Bay site claimed Monday that they are now running from the North Korean Internet. The Pirate Bay is one of the Internet’s longest surviving pirate sites. It links to Bit Torrent files of…
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DPRK registers satellite with UN
The DPRK has submitted registration papers for the recently launched Kwangmyongsong 3-2 satellite to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs. The papers were dated January 24 but were only made available this week by the Vienna-based organization. They were submitted by the DPRK’s diplomatic mission in the city. They don’t provide any new…
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Koryolink to give foreigners mobile data
Foreigners visiting North Korea should be able to get mobile data service on their cellphones within the coming week, according to a report on Friday. Koryolink, the country’s only 3G cellphone network, plans to allow visitors to buy mobile Internet when they arrive in the country, the AP said in a report from Pyongyang. The…
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YouTube zaps another Uriminzokkiri video
Another Uriminzokkiri video has been removed from YouTube for copyright infringement. This time it’s a propaganda video that borrowed its soundtrack from the video game “The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.” The takedown, confirmed by a message when users attempt to access the clip, comes just two weeks after a previous propaganda video was removed after…
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Phoenix regains Sinji brand name
Phoenix Commercial Ventures, one of North Korea’s few domestic/foreign IT joint ventures, has reacquired rights to the Sinji brand, trademark and associated intellectual property rights, it said Monday. Sinji was launched in 2005 as a software development company as a 50/50 joint venture with the Korea Committee for the Promotion of External Economic Cooperation (CPEEC), which reports to directly…
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(Un)Covering North Korea
Stanford University hosted a fascinating discussion on Monday that looked at the various ways in which the DPRK is covered from overseas. Called “(Un)Covering North Korea,” it was part of a day-long series of events associated with the awarding of the 2012 Shorenstein Journalism Award to Barbara Demick, Beijing bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times,…
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North Korea conducts nuclear test
North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test on Tuesday, according to state media. The test involved a “lighter, miniaturized atomic bomb,” reported the Korea Central News Agency. “The test was conducted in a safe and perfect way on a high level with the use of a smaller and light A-bomb unlike the previous ones, yet…
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Exclusive: Nosotek website hacked
The website of Nosotek, the foreign-North Korean software programming joint venture, has been hacked. The site was hit sometime late Sunday or early Monday and its front page was replaced with a message in French, English and Korean attacking North Korea. [This story has been updated. Please see below.] “The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea…
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Pyongyang’s solar street lamps
New solar-powered street lamps were featured on the main 8pm evening news on North Korean state TV this week. The solar panel and battery combo that powers the lamps was developed by Kim Chaek University of Technology and was introduced by an associate professor at the university named Cho Hyon Ho. From the images, it’s possible…
