'%3E%3Cpath%20stroke='%23000'%20stroke-width='4'%20d='m-35-37-13%2020m5%203%2013-20m5%203-13%2020m63%2042%206-9m1-2%206-9m5%203-6%209m-1%202-6%209m5%203%206-9m1-2%206-9m-96%200%2013%2020m5-3-6-9m-1-2-6-9m5-3%2013%2020m63-42-6-9m-1-2-6-9m5-3%2013%2020m5-3-6-9m-1-2-6-9'/%3E%3Ccircle%20r='24'%20fill='%23cd2e3a'/%3E%3Cpath%20fill='%230047a0'%20d='M0%200a12%2012%200%201%201%2020%2013%2024%2024%200%201%201-40-26A12%2012%200%201%200%200%200'/%3E%3C/g%3E%3C/svg%3E){kind=small}
-
·
Koryolink hits a million subscribers
Koryolink, North Korea’s only commercial 3G cell phone network, has signed up its millionth subscriber. The landmark was reached just over three years since service was launched. Koryolink has been adding more than 100,000 new subscribers for each of the last five quarters and was expected to hit the million mark in early 2012. The…
-
·
Japan indicts two over PC exports to North Korea
Japanese prosecutors have indicted two people over alleged exports of personal computers to North Korea, Kyodo news agency reported Wednesday. The two are accused of exporting 8.2 million yen (US$108,000) worth of computers from Japan in violation of the Japanese government’s trade sanctions. Japan has imposed a complete ban on exports to North Korea since…
-
·
DPRK again at bottom of press freedom ranking
North Korea has again been ranked the second-worst country in the world for press freedom by Reporters Without Borders. The Paris-based organization has consistently ranked the DPRK at the bottom of the world in terms of press freedom for the last decade. “It is no surprise that the same trio of countries, Eritrea, Turkmenistan and North Korea, absolute dictatorships that…
-
·
China’s CCTV interviews Ri Chun Hui
China Central Television (CCTV) scored something of a scoop on Monday when it interviewed North Korea’s most influential news anchor woman, Ri Chun Hui, as part of its Lunar New Year programming. The piece, which ran on the CCTV news channel, saw the station’s Pyongyang reporter go inside the Korea Central Television news studio to meet…
-
·
AP opens Pyongyang bureau
The Associated Press has opened a news bureau in Pyongyang making it the first western news agency to have a reporter and photographer based in the North Korean capital. The bureau represents a coup for the AP over the competition, but its close cooperation with the state-run Korean Central News Agency, necessitated to realize the…
-
·
Rodong Sinmun launches English site
Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the Workers’ Party of Korea and North Korea’s main national daily, has launched an English-language website. The page appears to have come online in the last few days but has a small archive of stories stretching back to December 1. It’s the first foreign language to be offered by the…
-
·
KCNA website adds Kim Jong Un section
The sudden death of Kim Jong Il has North Korea’s propaganda machine scrambling to build stories about the life of Kim Jong Un. The stories are a staple of the North Korean media and occupied hours of broadcast time and columns of newsprint during the era of Kim Jong Il. Designed to build a personality…
-
·
What’s wrong with these pictures?
North Korea’s state news agency published a couple of images on January 4th that appear to show Pyongyang factory workers checking or testing laptop computers. But a closer look reveals something odd about the pictures. The images were published with a brief caption that claimed: “Employees of the Electronics Corporation under the Ministry of Electronics…
-
·
South Korea’s National Security Law making headlines
South Korea’s attempts to keep North Korean material from the eyes and ears of its citizens is coming under the global media spotlight as the country launches a new sweep of domestic web sites and discussion forums. Led by U.S. National Public Radio, the country’s arrests of citizens for the seemingly benign posting of North…
-
·
Voice of Korea on Kim’s funeral
From my own monitoring, here are a couple of reports from Voice of Korea, North Korea’s shortwave radio service, on the event surrounding the funeral of Kim Jong Il. December 29 broadcast (covering the events of the previous day) Voice of Korea reports on the funeral procession of Kim Jong Il. [audio:https://www.nktechlab.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/111229-vok-kim-funeral.mp3|titles=Voice of Korea, December 29,…