Aug 27

North Korean Red Star Linux OS Reviewed + Download

Categories:

North Korea, Offbeat

August 27, 2010

It seems a Russian student studying in Pyongyang has leaked a version of Red Star Linux, the official operating system of North Korea. This site doesn’t see a lot of traffic, so I think I’m safe in hosting these direct download links, for now, anyways. The operating system is completely Korean, so if you’re unfamiliar with the language, you might not get very far, however the installation is fairly straightfoward. You might want to try loading it on a virtual machine such as VMWare, or a separate computer to avoid data loss.

This is really just your typical Linux distro, maybe a year or two out of date, but otherwise not shabby. Email, OpenOffice, Firefox, antivirus, firewall (called “Pyongyang Fortress”) and other typical goodies you’d expect with a distro. There isn’t a lot of propaganda here, just some blatant GPL violations. But why would DPRK care about that?

Interesting that the predefined Firefox bookmarks lead to internal websites (IP address in the private block such as http://10.76.1.20). Though I’m certain not a lot of people have any sort of computer, much less, network access, this state sanctioned OS is probably most used in universities.

For your enjoyment:

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/325

Aug 27

Carter, Gomes depart from Pyongyang

Categories:

China, Kim Jong-Il, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea, Propaganda

August 27, 2010

Early friday morning, former US President Jimmy Carter got on a plane with a healthy and smiling Aijalon Gomes. Gomes was sentenced to 8 years in a labour camp and $700000 for illegally trespassing into North Korea from the Chinese border. Gomes appears to be in good health, however Robert Park, who was friends with Gomes, and trespassed into the North one month earlier, required psychiatric assistance after his release from the DPRK. It might be some time before we see any sort of interview from Gomes, but time will tell. Carter likely did not get an opportunity to meet leader Kim Jong-Il, who departed for China suddenly (possibly with heir apparent son, Kim Jong-Un) with speculations abound on his intentions.

Source: CNN

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/322

Aug 26

Carter to stay in Pyongyang an extra day – awaiting Kim?

Categories:

China, Kim Jong-Il, North Korea, Propaganda

August 26, 2010

Yonhap reports that former US president Jimmy Carter has decided to stay an extra day in Pyongyang, after travelling to the North Korea capital to secure the release of Aijalon Gomes. While nothing official states that Carter is waiting around for Kim Jong-Il to return from his sudden trip to China, it’s certainly the only logical reason he could have for sticking around. More head games from Kim?

Source: Yonhap News

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/320

Aug 26

Kim Jong-Il visiting China again – with Kim Jong-Un in tow?

Categories:

China, Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-Il, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea, Succession

August 26, 2010

Making his second trip to China since May, Kim Jong-Il has departed by train while former US president Jimmy Carter is in Pyongyang. Though details aren’t clear, Kim Sr. is already touring the middle school of his father Kim Il-Sung. South Korean media is reporting that heir apparent Kim Jong-Un is also travelling with Jong-Il, but this and the visit’s intentions are all entirely up for speculation. It is interesting to note that the Worker’s Party meeting, in which Kim Jr. is expected to be tapped for a high position in the party, is less than 2 weeks away. The elusive son is rarely presented in photographs (aside from pictures from his youth), so it will be interesting to see if any media images leak out as a result of this trip.

Jimmy Carter expected to meet Kim Jong-Il personally during his visit to free Aijalon Gomes, so it is also interesting that Kim’s rare trip out of the country coincides with this event.

Source: Yahoo! News via. AFP

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/316

Aug 23

Jimmy Carter on mission to free Gomes

Categories:

North Korea, Propaganda

August 23, 2010

Former US president Jimmy Carter will be departing for North Korea “within days”, on a mission to free Aijalon Gomes who was sentenced to 8 years prison for illegally crossing into the North with a Christian message of peace. Carter is performing this task as a private citizen and not in an official government capacity. This is similar to the scenario where Bill Clinton retrieved Laura Ling and Euna Lee around this time last year.

Source: Yahoo! News

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/305

Aug 23

Foreign Accounts – Westerners in the DPRK

Categories:

China, Military, North Korea, Russia, South Korea, Tourism, USA

August 23, 2010

These are folks who have travelled through North Korea whether as tourists, undercover journalists, or businessmen. Their tales give you a real feeling for what it must be like as an outsider inside the reclusive country. Reading these accounts is an easy way to get an idea of North Korea’s isolationist principles if you’re new to the subject. And I will update and bump this post as I come across more!

Five Days in Pyongyang – An American businessman is on a White House assembled business delegation to Pyongyang. Interesting for his insights and observations.

Don Parrish, a man who has been everywhere, gives his account of the typical “Arirang” tour through Pyongyang. Chock full of good information for newcomers on the subject. Great photos too.

The Forbidden Railway: Vienna – Pyongyang – As the title suggests, this unique trip involved taking a series of trains from Vienna, through Russia, straight into North Korea. Typically, such methods of travel for Westerners is forbidden, but this brave/crazy guy slipped under the radar and managed to spend 36 hours in the isolated state.

DPRK Travel – 2004 If you’ve watched the “Friends With Kim” documentary from the Documentaries section of this site, this is the photo blog from one of the featured tourists.

DPRK Travel – 2005 The first year NK opened up to American tourism for the Arirang Mass Games. Our friend from the North Korean Economy Watch returns to the DPRK after just one year.

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/646

Aug 23

North Korea’s Social Media strategy illuminated

Categories:

Uncategorized

August 23, 2010

North Korea’s charge into Web 2.0 territory seems primarily to orient around its online news service, Uriminzokkiri. Whether you’re following the new Twitter account, or the Facebook page, you’re pretty much getting the same feed available on their website. Look to their Youtube page for fresher video content, if you can understand Korean.

Yonhap reports that a note from the creator of the Facebook page seems to seal the deal on the authenticity question: “We are Chosun June 15 Pyonjipsa under the Committee for Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland. We are operating in Pyongyang.” Pyonjipsa means publishing company. It’s worth noting that one of the new Facebook page’s interests is “Lactose free milk”.

Regarding the Facebook disappearance/reappearance from last weekend, it would appear the original page was deleted by Facebook for violating the “terms of service”. While not specifically noting what those violations might have been, PC World speculates that it is against TOS for countries embargoed by the US to represent themselves on Facebook. The account has since been recreated (and I am no longer a friend!)

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/300

Aug 23

Severe flooding continues along China/NK border

Categories:

China, North Korea

August 23, 2010

The displacement count of people evacuated due to flooding has reached over 250000 people in China. In Sinuiju City in bordering North Korea, it has been reported that over 5000 people have been evacuated due to severe flooding that has no end in sight.

Source: Yahoo! News

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/298

Aug 23

Want Designer Jeans from North Korea?

Categories:

North Korea, Offbeat

August 23, 2010

It’s difficult to put my finger on a story like this. These are designer jeans available at approximately $200 a pair, manufactured in North Korea. Only 1100 pairs were made. Their homepage even had a section asking “are these ethically viable?” and the answer is “no, probably not, but the North Koreans hadn’t heard of a code of conduct till we arrived, so we impressed them with that idea at least.” So, if you’ve got money to burn, would like some European looking pants made in a North Korean sweatshop purely for that macabre novelty value, check out their website.

Source: Noko Jeans via @LiberateLaura

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/292

Aug 19

North Korea on Facebook too?

Categories:

North Korea, Propaganda

August 19, 2010

The DPRK is just full of Web 2.0 surprises this month: First Youtube, then Twitter, and now it seems they have started a Facebook account as well. No word on how official this is yet, but all indications point to it being the Facebook page for the state-run Uriminzokkiri website. I got a chuckle out of the “Interested In: Men”.

Source: Free North Korea on Twitter (@freenorthkorea)

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Edit: It seems they (or someone else) closed their account and a new one started up… click here to visit the new one.

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/274

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