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Reports: South Korean arrested on spying charges
A former officer in South Korea’s military reserve has been arrested on charges of passing documents to a North Korea agent, according to South Korean media reports. The individual, who was only identified as a 37-year old with the family name of “Jeon,” was arrested under the National Security Law for allegedly passing information to North Korea…
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Kwangmyong has been upgraded, says report
Kwangmyong, North Korea’s online information service, has been upgraded. The network serves scientific and technological information and has been expanded with a new search function that includes a translation function, according to a recent article on Naenara, the website of Pyongyang’s Korea Computer Center.
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63 years of Voice of Korea in English
North Korea’s English-language broadcasting service marks its 63rd birthday on Thursday, November 6. Broadcast now under the name “Voice of Korea,” the radio station was for decades known as Radio Pyongyang. Since 1951, it’s broadcast thousands of hours of English-language programming and today remains one of the few international radio stations that still uses shortwave…
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Sawiris takes charge of Koryolink parent
Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris has taken over as CEO of the parent company of Cheo Technology, which runs North Korea’s Koryolink 3G cellular telephone network. Sawiris assumed the top job at Orascom Telecom Media and Technology (OTMT) after the former CEO, Ahmed Abou Doma, stepped down for personal reasons. He had been CEO for less than a…
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Report: Twitter, Facebook blocked in North Korea
North Korea has begun blocking access to Twitter and Facebook on domestic Internet connections offered to foreigners, according to a report last week. If correct, the move is apparently the first active blocking of Internet access by the North Korean government and comes at a time when it appears to be slowly tightening the screws on…
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North Korean malware hit thousands of phones, says Seoul
Malicious software disguised as a computer game could have infected around 20,000 smartphones in South Korea, according to South Korean media reports quoting the country’s spy agency. The games were offered through South Korean sites between May 19 and September 16 this year, the National Intelligence Service said in a report to parliament. The apps have since been removed…
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Voice of Korea schedule for winter 2014/2015
Voice of Korea, North Korea’s international shortwave broadcasting station, adjusted its transmission schedule on October 26 for the winter 2014 and spring 2015 seasons. The broadcasts follow the same basic line-up each day. :00 Opening signal, station identification: “This is Voice of Korea” :01 National Anthem :03 Song of General Kim Il Sung :06 Song…
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SiliVaccine – North Korea’s anti-virus scanner
In a country where most computers aren’t connected to the Internet, an anti-virus scanner might not seem like much of a necessity. But since 2002, programmers in the country have been working on SiliVaccine, a home grown anti-virus application that is now in its fourth version. I was recently sent a current version that runs…
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North Korea bans WiFi at embassies
North Korea has banned the use of satellite Internet connections and WiFi networks by foreign embassies and international organizations unless they get government approval. The switch, which came in mid August, gives credibility to an earlier report that unencrypted wireless networks at embassies were being used by North Korean citizens to gain uncensored access to…
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Koryolink subscriptions hit 2.4 million
Subscriptions to Koryolink, North Korea’s only 3G mobile phone network, have just passed the 2.4 million mark, according to the latest figures from the operator. The figure represents a significant slowdown in growth in the last year over the previous year and points to the first big spurt in subscriptions being over. The carrier might have…
