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Telephone bill payment by Jongsong Card
North Koreans can now pay their fixed-line telephone bills with the “Jongsong” (전성) payment card, state-run DPRK Today reports. Payments are made by dialing 136 on a telephone and connecting to a payment settlement service. The Jongsong card has been around since at least 2017. In January of that year it was profiled by the…
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Twitter bans then reinstates North Korea-themed account
Twitter has reinstated the @coldnoodlefan account that was taken down two weeks ago. It reappeared on the site on August 15 with a post announcing its return but providing no details of the earlier ban or how it managed to return. The account has about 3,000 followers and strong North Korean links. NK News published…
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North Korea’s Koryolink: Built for Surveillance and Control
Internal meeting minutes reveal that state surveillance was the North Korean government’s top priority when designing the Koryolink mobile network in 2008.
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More changes for North Korean TV’s weather broadcast
North Korean TV’s weather broadcast has started using updated graphics to accompany changes made a month earlier when it refreshed the presentation style. The changes this time are slight but point to further evolution of the evening news bulletin, which has started using more advanced computer graphics and infographics in some of its reporting. The…
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New graphics in regular use during North Korean TV’s economic news segments
The new graphics introduced for just one day during North Korea’s TV news in March are making a comeback. Korean Central TV used a more modern production method in reports during its March 21 bulletin. It featured 3D graphics overlaid on video and more interesting camera shots, but the next day things were back to…
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Kim Chaek University ranks 8th in international programming contest
Students from Kim Chaek University of Technology have finished in 8th position in the International Collegiate Programming Contest. The annual event pits students from the world’s top universities against each other writing computer programs to solve problems. It’s one of the few international events that North Korea takes part in and is a general guide to…
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KCTV refreshes its weather forecast presentation
Korean Central Television debuted a more casual presentation style for its weather broadcast. It’s the second recent on-screen change for state-TV.
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The Russian university hosting the Kim-Putin summit is eyeing wider cooperation with North Korea
Vladivostok’s Far Eastern Federal University is playing host to the summit between Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin this week but plans were recently agreed for it to play a greater role in DPRK-Russian academic exchange. The university already hosts about 10 North Korean graduate students per year and in November last year it agreed…
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State media is fast with news of Kim’s departure for Russia
North Korean state media has showed unusual speed in reporting on the movements of Kim Jong Un for the second time this year. Kim’s departure for Russia from Pyongyang railway station headlined state radio news bulletins on Wednesday morning and made the front page of the day’s newspapers despite apparently happening just hours earlier (See…
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North Korea rises one step in annual press freedom ranking
North Korea is no longer last in Reporters Without Borders’ annual press freedom ranking, but the change doesn’t signal any great movement on press freedom.
