Author: Martyn Williams

  • China modernized North Korea’s TV news

    The sudden refresh of North Korea’s staid state TV evening news appears be thanks to help from China’s state TV broadcaster. China Central Television, the government-run broadcaster of China, donated 5 million yuan (about US$800,000) of equipment to North Korea’s Korea Central Television to help improve its news broadcasts, according to a Chinese news report. There…

  • New! The North Korean YouTube List

    New! The North Korean YouTube List

    On the right of the home page you’ll find a link to a new resource on North Korea Tech: a listing YouTube channels associated with North Korea. The first North Korea-related channel came online in 2006 and more have followed. In the last couple of years the posting of videos by Uriminzokkiri, the Pyongyang-linked site…

  • More from the Pyongyang trade fair

    Earlier I wrote about a new Android tablet computer called Samjiyon that was on show at the 8th Pyongyang Autumn International Trade Fair. Some of the images came from a KCNA video that also included some other highlights from the fair, including other pieces of technology. The fair lasted from Monday to Thursday and including, according…

  • Samjiyon Android tablet debuts at Pyongyang trade fair

    Samjiyon Android tablet debuts at Pyongyang trade fair

    A North Korean company says it has developed a tablet computer based on Google’s Android operating system, according to reports from the 8th Pyongyang Autumn International Trade Fair currently taking place. There’s little actual information on the tablet computer, which was shown in photo coverage by the Associated Press and North Korean state TV. It’s made…

  • Pyongyang Maternity Hospital gets advanced Siemens scanners

    Pyongyang Maternity Hospital gets advanced Siemens scanners

    If you watch North Korea’s evening news for any number of days, you’ll usually come across medical features that show the inside of hospitals and the pictures are never particularly inspiring. Few modern machines are seen and the medical system certainly doesn’t rely on technology to the same extent as many developed nations. So it…

  • WIPO tech exports didn’t violate rules finds UN committee

    WIPO tech exports didn’t violate rules finds UN committee

    A United Nations committee has concluded the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) technical assistance program didn’t violate U.N. Security Council resolutions. In question were exports of computer equipment by WIPO intended to help North Korea upgrade its patent office IT system. The exports were first reported by Fox News Channel in April, which published internal…

  • Voice of Korea gets an e-mail address

    Voice of Korea gets an e-mail address

    Voice of Korea, the DPRK’s international shortwave radio service, has started telling its listeners it has an email address. The radio station opened a web site more than a year ago but never advertised an email address and continued to ask listeners to send messages via postal mail. Now it says it is accepting emails…

  • More on KCTV’s new-look news

    More on KCTV’s new-look news

    More video of the new-look evening news on Korea Central Television has emerged and it reveals the 8pm newscast has a new introduction in addition to new set. Gone is the familiar opening theme replaced by a new theme that is every bit as grand. The opening sequence has also been renewed with more complex…

  • KCTV’s evening news gets an update

    KCTV’s evening news gets an update

    North Korea’s main evening news bulletin has gotten a visual refresh. The TV program, which ranks as one of the government’s most important tools in information dissemination — both domestically and internationally — has had a few minor updates over the last year but the most recent refresh is perhaps the biggest. The paintings that…

  • How satellite helped open up North Korea’s airspace

    How satellite helped open up North Korea’s airspace

    Back in 1998 the International Air Transport Association (IATA) improved its network connection into North Korea by linking the country’s air traffic control system via satellite. The link, via Asiasat 2, was outlined in a presentation that was sent to me soon after. I hadn’t been able to find it for years, but just located a…