Category Archive: Offbeat

Jan 10

North Korea’s official response to weekend hacking

The source on this is a little odd: A WordPress blog with almost entirely default settings containing a many quality articles. However, the author has taken the effort to translate North Korea’s official response to the hacking of its Uriminzokkiri Youtube and Twitter accounts, as well as a direct denial of service attack on the Urimizokkiri website. So kudos to @dwkim9156 for translating the text:

Between the night of the 8th to the morning of the 9th, “Uriminzokkiri” webpage has been temporarily closed due to the hacking of the illegal intruders. The said illegal intruders perpetrated the laws by posted pieces of writing that insults our systems and dignity and deleted our stored information. Prior to this event, these illegal intruders have launched a DDoS attack on “Uriminzokkiri” webpage in late December. Such perpetration against “Uriminzokkiri” website is a base, rash act of the heinous members for anti-reunification to stall the influence of “Uriminzokkiri,” and it is an unforgivable defiance and provocation to our website.

The members of Comedy Gallery in DCinside, a South Korean webpage, have claimed to be responsible, and manipulates the opinions to make it seem as if they “responded” to our DDoS attack on their website.
“Uriminzokkiri” is an internet media of the Republic that works to advocate the desire and inclination for the People’s reconciliation, unity, and reunification, and does not intrude or hack other websites, nor does it indulge in such childish plays.
What will we achieve by hacking with extreme-rightist, rash people in websites that people do not even know whether it exists or not. Their excuse is nothing but an attempt to justify their illegal intrusion. The problem is that this incident has been a deliberated provocation by the hostile subjects whose marrows are filled with the hatred towards our Republic and controlled by the extreme-rightist influence.
As known previously, the pro-American conservative party have blocked “Uriminzokkiri” and labeled it as “pro-North website” to stall our influence, and have threatened many people in the South against connecting to our website, making it a violation of “National Security laws.” However, the number of those outside and inside the fatherland who visit our website is increasing exponentially every day.
Nonetheless, the extreme-rightist conservative influence, who are filled with a rooted hostility and repulsion towards us have lured some rash subjects who would even jump into the water for few pennies to perform illegal hacking on our website to prevent our voice for justice from reaching out to the people inside and outside the fatherland.
International hacking is illegal and outlawed in every country and governments, and South Korea is not an exception. Even according to the South Korean current law, if one damages others politically and economically on the web through hacking, one must pay for the crime and receive severe punishments.

Again, this incident proves that the South Korean extreme-rightist conservative subjects are criminals who intrude international internet web without hesitation to perform illegal hacking acts.

During the last few years, the South Korean authorities have made unfounded accusations to us every time they suffered a cyber attack in order to mislead both domestic and international media. This incident shows that those cyber attacks have occurred within South Korea as well.

Although the rash subjects who counter the currents of the era of information try to stall the influence of “Uriminzokkiri,” they cannot stop our communications that are meant to achieve the People’s reconciliation, unity, and reunification.
Those who have performed the hacking should deeply consider the severe consequences that await them, and act rashly no more.
The South Korean authorities should thoroughly investigate this illegal, even anarchical hacking incident, and severely punish those involved in it.
All the People should not tolerate the rashness of the extreme-rightist conservative subjects who have performed illegal, even anarchical deeds on internet with the criminal goal of preventing the achievement of reconciliation and unity, and inspire wars between brothers.

No big surprises here, but it’s interesting that North Korea decries the attacks as “childish”, while also hypocritically chewing out the South Korean government for blocking pro-North sites in the first place (North Korea, of course, blocks all content outside its own internal network of websites).

Source: Hello, World

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/744

Jan 09

Happy Birthday, KJU: North Korea social media sites hacked

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Watching this drama unfold from my phone but not having the capacity to post about it troubled me, despite enjoying a mini-vacation with the missus this past weekend. Her birthday, coincidentally enough, coincides with Kim Jong-Un’s… and they are likely the same age (28) as well!

The momentous occasion had many DPRK observers wondering what kind of shindig the North Korean leadership would throw for the dynastic leader-to-be. North Korea’s national holidays are the birthdates of their past and current leaders, grandfather Kim Il-Sung and father Kim Jong-Il. The day passed with no formal event, however it is highly likely that political cadres showered the 4-star General with luxurious gifts to establish loyalty to the young successor.

South Korean hackers had other plans for Kim Jong-Un’s birthday, however. Hackers from SK based discussion forum DCInside.com apparently gained control of North Korea’s official Twitter and Youtube accounts, posting tweets slanderous to the Kim regime and a humourous and topical video of Kim Jong-Un driving over starving North Koreans in his sportscar.

The video (set to Super Mario World music) has, of course, been pulled, but North Korean Economy Watch has posted it on their Youtube account for posterity. The video is actually pretty well produced, referencing a recent train derailment in North Korea where 8 rail cars carrying luxury gifts for Kim Jong-Un derailed, in a possible domestic terrorist attack (though another possibility could be a degraded railway infrastructure…). Check out the video for yourself:

Source: North Korean Economy Watch

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/740

Jan 04

What’s cool these days in North Korea? Crystal meth.

File:Chongjin-center-2.jpg

An inside source close to The DailyNK reports on the recent popularity of methamphetamines amongst North Korean youths with privileged backgrounds. The source claims that to address the issue, authorities have formed special inspection teams but the issue is to widespread to eradicate. An anecdote from Chongjin in North-eastern North Korea:

“An inspection unit composed of Party and judicial officials made a surprise visit to Namkang Women’s Senior Middle School in the Pohang district of Chongjin, just in front of the statue of Kim Il Sung. There, they inspected the bags of female students in one senior class (17-18 years), and found the tools for sniffing meth in more than 50% of them.”

“Tools” for sniffing crystal meth apparently consist of rolled up paper bills, which of course are adorned with the portrait of Kim Il-Sung and thus regarded as extremely disrespectful to the Great Leader. An increase in prostitution is also linked to the high usage of the drug, which has highly addictive tendencies and can be difficult to pay for with money. Often the drug is given away for birthday gifts as well. And as its is mostly the children of the elite who are addicted to the drug, it can be difficult to eliminate the problem since the government corruption runs high.

Source: DailyNK

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/739

Dec 30

‘Bend It Like Beckham’ aired on North Korea television

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To commemorate the 10th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and North Korea, the British embassy in Pyongyang managed to have the first western movie aired to a North Korean audience. Bend It Like Beckham is a 2002 dramedy about a girl who does whatever it takes to play professional women’s football (soccer to us North American honkies), even if going against family values and traditions. The December 26th broadcast was an unusual step for North Korea, who traditionally airs only state-sanctioned news reports, natively made North Korean movies and TV dramas (with a thick helping of propaganda), and video portraying North Korea’s leadership and country status in only the most positive lights.

Soccer/football is one of few national pasttime’s the two countries can share, but it would be interesting to get North Korean viewers opinions on the movie. Many North Koreans have been successful in smuggling South Korean television shows into the country, but one must wonder what sort of impact, if any, the state sanctioned airing of a western movie such as this might have on the society. The 112 minute movie appeared to be edited—but perhaps not that dramatically, as the final broadcast cut was only 8 minutes shorter at 104 minutes long.

Source: BBC

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/733

Dec 24

A Christmas Tree for North Korea

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As much of the world celebrates Christmas Eve, a special tree has been lit south of the DMZ for North Koreans on the other side of the border to see. A nearly 30 metre metal structure draped with ornamental lights and bearing an illuminated Christian cross on the top has been switched on by South Korea for the first time in 7 years. Recently the two halves of the peninsula have been escalating tensions, this time with the South Koreans seemingly reveling in their own provocations in the form of massive military drills near the border. South Korean soldiers guard the tree as the North has denounced its lighting as provocation and there were concerns they might fire on it.

The Christmas tree, planted in the highly visible Aegibong Peak, was originally planned to shut down on December 26th, the day following Christmas. The shutoff date was later extended to January 8th, in respect for other religious organizations and not to coincide with the birthday of Kim Jong-Un as some may suspect. The tree lighting is a tradition founded by the South in 1954, the year following the Korean War as a sort of “message of peace”/propaganda for the North, depending on how you want to look at it.

Merry Christmas, Koreas!

Source: AFP

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/728

Dec 15

North Korean restaurants abroad

nangmyonWith the defection of a North Korean restaurant manager from Nepal to India, The Chosun Ilbo has a nice article about the profitability of North Korea managing restaurants abroad. These restaurants are known as Okryugwan, originating in Pyongyang and spreading to nearby countries. North Korean specialty foods such as cold noodles and steamed crab are popular in South Korea and other Asian countries. As a result, North Korea sends some of its most educated people abroad to run and wait restaurants serving their native cuisine. Such restaurants are typically run following the ideological values of North Korea, sending most of their profits to their home country, often 100 000-300 000 won per year. However, since exposure to the outside capitalist world inevitably sets in, most North Koreans working abroad do so for a maximum of 3 years before they are returned home. In the case of the North Korean restaurant owner in Nepal, he is believed to have “taken the money and run” to India, on the run as a defector from the North Korean iron fist.

Source: The Chosun Ilbo / AFP

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/717

Dec 03

Ri Chun-Hee: North Korea’s Unsung Celebrity

richunhee

There aren’t a lot of famous North Koreans—especially outside the government or soccer world. There is one special North Korean, however, who has been discussed a great deal in China and abroad – Ri Chun-Hee. ChinaSmack has a humourous article about North Korean TV’s popular news anchor, famous for her dead-pan and harsh delivery of the news from Pyongyang. Typically extolling the virtues of Kim Jong-Il and his accomplishments across the country, Chun-hee has been reporting for over 40 years.

Best quote from the article, citing Chinese bulletin board Tiexue: “North Korea’s anchorwoman becomes famous: Her voice is even more powerful than cannons!”

See below for a recent example from North Korea’s officlal Youtube of her blunt news delivery.

Source: ChinaSmack

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/699

Oct 20

THQ boss thanks North Korea for “selling” Homefront

Danny Bilson, vice president of video game company THQ, spoke a bit in an interview about the first person shooter game Homefront. Homefront is described as “speculative fiction” describing a near future in which Kim Jong-Un rises to power, annexes South Korea and Japan, and then invades America. Bilson stated of North Korea’s recent warmongering behaviour: “they’ve been really cooperative… we really appreciate the regime in North Korea for supporting Homefront the way they have.”

The trailer for Homefront, if you haven’t seen it already, is below. It references current and “future” actions from North Korea that are becoming scarily close to becoming a reality, which adds to the impact of the game. Homefront comes out in March 2011.

Source: Joystiq

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/546

Oct 05

Did Kim Jong-Un get plastic surgery?

Let me get this right out: I don’t think so. The Telegraph is speculating that Kim Jong-Un received plastic surgery in order to look more like the late Great Leader Kim Il-Sung, in order to inspire confidence in the North Korean people who have grown tired of Jong-Il’s mismanagement. The article goes on to state that he never resembled Il-Sung as a child, but I have only heard reports (and personally agree) that he looked just like Il-Sung as a youth (of course resembling the senior Kim as a child of the same age). I’ll buy that they fattened Jong-Un up to look more like him, but I think plastic surgery is a little over the top for succession speculation mongering. But who knows, this is North Korea we’re talking about after all.

Does he not resemble Kim Il-Sung in this popular “2nd most up-to-date” photo when he was around 17-18 year old?
Source: The Telegraph

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/461

Sep 17

North Korea and the “Y1C” problem.

Remember the Y2K problem of the 1990s? Though a laughable issue, and probably of no serious consequence, North Korea is facing a similar crisis. The “Juche” calendar begun on April 15th, 1912, the birthdate of Kim Il-Sung. The current Gregorian year, 2010, is represented as Juche 99 on their calendar. Any North Korean computer systems (of which there are few) programmed using the Juche calendar will suffer the problem of a 2-digit year rolling over to “00” when the year becomes Juche 100. The Juche calendar, used often in state-run publications and news outlets, is often used alongside the Gregorian year (such as “September 17th 2010 – Juche 99”), so it’s improbably that this will be a big problem. But hey, with North Korea, you never can tell.

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/408

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