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Mischief with Our Nation website
A typo in a North Korean website has allowed an Internet user to serve up anti-regime messages. The mistake is made on Our Nation School, a China-based website that teaches juche philosophy and appears to be run by the same group behind the Uriminzokkiri site. In the top corner of the site are a series…
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Kim Jong Un tries out virtual reality
Kim Jong Un experienced a virtual reality demonstration as part of his recent visit to Beijing. In a photo issued by North Korea’s state media, the leader and his wife are seen each seated with VR headsets on. No other information about the demonstration was offered, but it appears to be a simulation of a…
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More on SiliVaccine, North Korea’s anti-virus scanner
Several years ago I obtained a copy of SiliVaccine, an anti-virus scanner developed in North Korea. Recently I’ve been working with Mark Lechtik at Check Point Software who has done a deep technical analysis of the application. There are some interesting findings and we’ll be providing more details on those in the coming weeks. Mark…
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Multi-channel TV reportedly expanding in North Korea
The Daily NK has a story today about what might be the expansion of cable TV in North Korea. The story says North Korean authorities have begun charging for access to Mansudae Television (만수대텔레비죤) outside of Pyongyang. Mansudae TV launched in December 1973 as North Korea’s third TV station and is on the air on…
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Arirang 171 smartphone unveiled
North Korea’s latest smartphone is the Arirang 171 (아리랑171), the latest in a line of phones to carry the Arirang name and the most powerful to date. Technical details of the phone were revealed in a video posted by DPRK Today, a North Korean-linked website, but the one thing I really want to know wasn’t…
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Olympics notes: No coverage yet on KCTV
With the second full day of competition ended at the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, North Korea’s KCTV has yet to feature any coverage. On Sunday, the broadcaster included several still images from Olympics competition in its news bulletin, but they were in the context of the attendance of Kim Yong Nam and Kim Jo Yong’s…
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How to watch North Korean TV live
A common question I get is whether it’s possible to watch North Korean TV live. There are several sources available with different levels of reliability and quality. Broadcasts begin at 3pm Pyongyang time on most days and run until around 11pm. On Sundays and public holidays, programming usually begins at 8am. News is broadcast at…
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What does Strava data tell us about North Korea?
Strava’s heat map of user activity has been raising some eyebrows for detailing movement of people around military bases, but what does it tell us about North Korea? As you might expect, there isn’t a whole lot of activity in the country. In fact, alongside South Korea and China, the image of North Korea looks…
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Olympics notes: Will North Koreans get to watch the PyeongChang Winter Olympics?
With the PyeongChang Winter Olympics coming up, one of the issues for North-South discussion is television access for Korean Central Television. That because Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS), one of South Korea’s major TV networks, holds Olympics broadcasting rights for North Korea even though it doesn’t broadcast there. The rights for the 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024…
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Olympics notes: Will North Korean athletes get Samsung phones?
As part of its Olympics sponsorship deal, Samsung Electronics is providing a Note 8 smartphone featuring Olympic branding to every athlete at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. Samsung will supply more than 4,000 of the phones to athletes and “members of the Olympic family,” which includes officials and International Olympic Committee staff. The hope of the…