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Policy change allows tourist cell phones, Internet to come, says Xinhua
The North Korean government is now allowing tourists to keep hold of their cell phones when they enter the country and buy SIM cards on the local network, according to a report by China’s Xinhua news agency. The report comes hours after Young Pioneer Tours said tourists on their most recent trip were able to…
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DPRK officials indicated Internet is inevitable, says Sophie Schmidt
Sophie Schmidt, the daughter of Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, has written a comprehensive blog post about her recent trip to Pyongyang and included in her revelations: North Korean officials seemed to acknowledge they can’t keep the Internet out. The posting is perhaps the most complete account yet of the visit by any member of the group,…
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Tourists allowed to take in cell phones
Young Pioneer Tours, one of the handful of agencies taking tourists into North Korea, reports that a group just returned from the country were permitted by customs officials to take their cell phones into the country. The news is intriguing because North Korea has long taken phones from visitors as they cross the border. The…
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Maybe North Korea didn’t hack us after all, says South
Well, this is a little embarrassing. The presidential transition team that Thursday blamed North Korean hackers for an attack on its press room now says there was no hacking. It all appears to have been a misunderstanding. Reporting on the reversal, Yonhap quoted an official on the team as saying the allegations stemmed from a disconnect in communications within…
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Suspected DPRK cyber attacks back in the news
Cyber attacks on South Korean networks suspected to have originated in North Korea are back in the news. On Thursday, Yonhap News reported that a computer server handling the Internet connection for the press rooms at South Korea’s presidential transition team had been hacked. The hack, which was not detailed, was detected during a security check by…
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DPRK tablet PC can receive TV broadcasts
North Korea’s main evening news featured a minute-long report on the tablet computers on Thursday night. The report, which focused on the Samjiyon tablet, interviewed a man identified as the chief engineer of the tablet from the Multimedia Technology Research Institute of the Korea Computer Center. The tablet first made an appearance in September at…
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KCNA’s new site gets Juche date
Just over a week since the Korean Central News Agency completed a major overhaul of its website, several elements of the new site have been changed. The changes address a couple of things that surprised me when I first reviewed the site on January 5. The first is the addition of a Juche date. The…
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Ranking Eric Schmidt’s Pyongyang trip
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt is back from Pyongyang. His visit made headlines around the world, but what about inside North Korea? I took a look at the main 8pm evening news on North Korean TV to see where the visit ranked. Details of Eric Schmidt’s movements were reported on both Wednesday and Thursday. Domestic news…
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KCNA updates its web site
KCNA, North Korea’s state-run news agency, has relaunched its web site. The site, which is one of only a handful hosted in Pyongyang, was first launched in late 2010 and has been redesigned a couple of times since it first went online. The new design, which appears to have debuted on January 4, is perhaps…
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South Korea to continue analog TV near border
Just days away from completing a nationwide switch from analog to digital television, South Korea has announced plans to continue analog TV broadcasting in border areas so that North Koreans don’t lose access to the signals. Overseas radio and TV broadcasts are about the only free media available to North Koreans, although reception isn’t easy.…
