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A Look at the Sujongchon 5010 Smartwatch
With competition in the smartphone space, North Korean enterprises have started branching off into related areas such as smartwatches. One of the first to do so was Sujongchon Technology Exchange Company (수정천기술교류사), which launched the Sujongchon 5010. The smartwatch debuted around December 2024 and was on display at the Pyongyang Spring International Trade Fair in…
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Three things to read from December 2025
This month covers digital media players being used as learning tools in North Korean schools, new e-learning distribution, and North Korean IT workers adapting overseas.
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North Korea’s first multi-channel IPTV service apparently launched
Manbang has launched North Korea’s first multi-channel IPTV service, offering 20 channels of live television across the country’s internal data network.
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Inside Pyongyang’s new gaming center
Photos of Kim Jong Un’s newly toured gaming center in Pyongyang reveal over 149 stations equipped with Asus ROG gaming hardware and foreign computer games.
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Three things to read, from August 2025
This month’s NK TechLab reading list covers North Korea’s replacement of Chinese computers at government offices and intensifying crackdowns on information leakage.
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Lots and lots of Dell computers
Kim Jong Un recently paid a visit to a new political school in Pyongyang that will train the next generation of leaders of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK). Korean Central Television covered his inspection tour of the Central Cadres Training School of the WPK, which appears to be relatively far along in its construction.…
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North Korean programmers used a hosted laptop to freelance online, says FBI
The US and South Korean governments have been increasingly sounding an alarm about the unwitting hiring of North Korean IT workers through online platforms. Court papers unsealed this week detail the lengths to which the IT workers go to disguise their North Korean affiliation. The story begins in August 2019 when the Federal Bureau of…
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Agricultural Drones in North Korea
Over the last few years, North Korea appears to have been trying to drive more science and innovation into its agricultural sector. Much of that innovation has occurred at the government’s weather provider, the State Hydrometeorological Administration. The agency now claims to have weather data for every county in North Korea, and accurate data is…
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North Korea’s Anti-Epidemic Robot
A North Korean company has produced a robot for epidemic prevention. The device is advertised in the latest Foreign Trade magazine and is essentially an Android tablet with attached sensors packaged into a semi-humanoid form. Foreign Trade is a monthly magazine that promotes North Korean companies and overseas trade partnerships. “This autonomous mobile intelligent robot…
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Russian citizen charged over exports to North Korea
The U.S. Government has indicted a Russian citizen over exports of sensitive technology to North Korea. Ilya Balakaev is chief executive officer of Radiotester LLC, a Moscow-based company that repairs radio equipment, and the recently unsealed indictment alleges he exported a handheld gas monitor to North Korea. The charge is alongside a larger scheme to export…
