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BBC World Service still mulling North Korean service
The BBC World Service is still exploring ways to launch programming aimed at North Korea. The broadcaster had previously said budget cuts are hampering efforts to get its news and information programming into the country, but a new report makes clear the country remains an expansion target.
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Smartphone imports from China said to have hit record in 2014
Imports of smartphones from China into North Korea hit a record in 2014, according to a report by Yonhap News. The South Korean news agency said North Korea bought smartphones worth US$82.8 million from China last year, according to figures from the Seoul-based Korea International Trade Association (KITA). That’s almost double the 2013 number and in…
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More Internet problems hit North Korea
North Korea’s Internet connection is experiencing problems again, leading to difficulties in connecting to North Korean websites from outside of the country, according to data from Dyn Research. Users inside North Korea are also presumably having trouble reaching sites in the rest of the world. The problems began just after 3am UTC and continued for…
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Internet-funded North Korean coup has short life
A bizarre attempt to raise $10 million to fund a coup in North Korea appears to have ended shortly after it began. A fund-raising campaign asking for money to “Help Bring Freedom to North Korea” was posted on Indiegogo on January 18, but several days later was deleted from the site.
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Obama says Internet could bring down Kim regime
Greater access to information, particularly the Internet, will likely prove to be what ends the rule of North Korea’s regime, President Obama said last week in an interview. Speaking to YouTube creators during an event at The White House, Obama said military options against the country were limited, in part because of the potential damage…
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Obama speaks on hacking during State of the Union
North Korea didn’t get a direct mention during President Obama’s State of the Union address on January 20, but Obama did take on the issue of computer hacking — something that has been put on the U.S. agenda since the November 2014 attack on Sony Pictures. The U.S. government has blamed North Korea for the action and…
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Balloon launch of “The Interview” DVDs to go ahead
A U.S.-based group says a launch it is sponsoring of balloons carrying copies of the Sony Pictures movie “The Interview” into North Korea will go ahead, despite threats against it by the North Korean government. The Human Rights Foundation said on Monday that the launch, performed by the group Fighters for Free North Korea (FFNK), would take place sometime this…
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TV Review: Hidden State: Inside North Korea
Al Jazeera’s “Fault Lines” takes on North Korea in its latest episode, scheduled for broadcast on Al Jazeera America on January 19, 2015, at 9pm ET. The 30-minute program called “Hidden State: Inside North Korea,” is based around a 2014 reporting trip to the country by Teresa Bo. Bo is a former Latin American correspondent…
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NSA had access to North Korean computer network, says report
The U.S. National Security Agency had access to internal North Korean computer networks before the attack on Sony Pictures, according to a report by The New York Times. That access enabled the U.S. to conclude, with confidence, that North Korea was responsible for the hack on Sony. The report quotes interviews with former U.S. and foreign officials, computer experts briefed…
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KCTV launches HD satellite broadcasts
Korean Central Television, North Korea’s main national television station, has begun high-definition broadcasting. The TV station has been available in standard definition via the Thaicom satellite for more than 15 years, and earlier in January a second high-definition feed of the TV station appeared. The technical parameters of the new broadcast are as follows: 3696MHz, horizontally polarized, 4167…
