Global Voices » North Korea

North Korea Denies GPS Jamming

Lee Yoo Eun — Sat, 19 May 2012 04:59:18 +0000

North Korea denied that it jammed Global Positioning System (GPS) signals in the border area between North and South Korea which has caused inconvenience to commercial aviation flights. North Korea Tech blog wrote an analysis on the jamming which South Korean media have reported as coming from North Korea.

North Korea Says More Satellite Launches Are Coming

Lee Yoo Eun — Fri, 04 May 2012 15:54:21 +0000

North Korea Tech blog wrote about North Korean state media's claim that its satellite launch was part of a “peaceful, civilian space program” and they will launch even more into space.

China: Kim Jong-Un Photoshop meme

Oiwan Lam — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:38:50 +0000

Michael Ardaiolo from Shanghaiist has collected a set of photoshop meme circulated via Weibo in China on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

North Korean TV Announcer Appears with Double “Kim Pins”

Lee Yoo Eun — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:59:17 +0000

North Korea Tech wrote a post on a new lapel pin made for the country's young dictator, Kim Jung-un. The “Kim pins” with the face of North Korean former leaders, are worn almost all the time by North Koreans and the new version debuted on its state TV.

North Korea Timeline in Storify

Lee Yoo Eun — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:46:17 +0000

In the midst of North Korea's failed rocket launch, @StandfordCISAC posted a storify story with a summary of North Korean major events happened during recent decades.

Perspectives on North Korea's Unsuccessful Rocket Launch

Lee Yoo Eun — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:45:37 +0000

North Korea launched a rocket on April 12, 2012, despite international warnings of censure and further isolation. But to its embarrassment, the rocket disintegrated right after the launch and its remnants fell into the sea. This incident stirred up numerous debates in South Korean Internet space.

An instant reaction on the news of rocket launch was tut-tutting over the astronomical amount of money wasted on its unsuccessful launch, which could have been used to feed millions of starving North Koreans. A comment by Kim Sun-jun read [ko]:

1년치 옥수수를 다 태워 버렸네.

They burnt away [the cost of] a year's amount of corn (which could have fed North Koreans) [note: corn is originally a supplementary crop but has become one of the major crops in North Korea after the country suffered from a serious shortage of rice for decades]

North Korean soldiers look south while on duty in the Joint Security Area, Korean Demilitarized Zone. Image is in the public domain, via Wikipedia.

Yoon Jae-won (@yjw23_kseri), a North Korean analyst at the Kim Kwang Su Economic Research Institute, wrote six tweets which have been retweeted numerous times by other users. After condeming [ko] North Korea's rocket launch as a ‘reprehensible act' which could ruin current six-party talks, which are slowly progressing, Yoon then questions [ko] public belief in the effectiveness of international sanction:

그런데 북한을 어떻게 다룰 것인가 하는 것은 현실적인 측면을 고려할 필요가 있습니다. 유엔안보리를 통해 북한을 비난하는 것은 자연스러운 반응이지만, 북한에 강경대응으로만 일관했을 때 더 큰 문제를 불러일으킬 수 있기 때문입니다.

But we need to get realistic in handling North Korea. It is only natural to blame the North through the UN Security Council, but this kind of hawkish approach and single-handedly using such an approach may backfire and bring bigger problems in the future.

Yoon further explains [ko]:

제재로 일관하는 것은 국제사회에서 북한을 더욱 고립시킴으로써 오히려 김정은 체제의 내부결속을 다지는 결과를 초래하게 될 것입니다. 이런 상황일수록 이명박정부가 상황을 관리하고 북한을 고립시키지 않음으로써 개혁개방으로 유도하는 것이 중요합니다.

Using the international sanction as the one and only [diplomatic strategy] will further isolate North Korea from the international community. And it will also solidify Kim Jong-un's [the country's current leader] grip of power by making people gather under his name. Lee Myung-bak's [current president of South Korea] administration should be able to take control over this situation and try not to isolate them further in order to lead North Korea into revolution and the open market.

Daum Agora forum user stkt refuses to use the word ‘ failure‘ [ko] in describing North Korea's rocket launch, since there is no failure in sceintific experiments, especially in the space development program:

로켓발사는 애당초 실패라는 개념이 일반적인 실험과 다르다.일반적인 무기실험과 달리 로케트는 발사를 해봐야 실험 데이타를 얻는다. 로켓발사 실험에 있어서는 실패와 성공의 기준은 무엇이 잘못되었는지를 확인할 수 있는 실험 데이타와 노하우를 얻었는지의 여부인 것이지 기체의 발사결과 자체가 아닌 것이다.

The common usage of the term ‘failure' in ordinary experimental situations does not really apply to rocket launches. Unlike regular weapons experiments, the only way to get data is by actually launching a rocket (in the case of rocket experiments). What matters here is whether they have succeeded in pulling out meaningful data during the experiment and whether they have learnt a lesson, NOT whether the rocket itself has launched alright.

Daum Agora user Ceasurs21 introduces [ko] an interesting perspective:

북한의 로켓 발사가 실패했다는 소식이 반가우면서도 한편으로는 로켓 발사와 관련된 북한사람 중에 얼마나 많은 사람들의 목이 달아날까도 생각해 봤습니다.핵심 기술을 가진 과학자야 빳다 맞고 목숨은 건지겠지만 누군가는 책임지고 수용소에 끌려가거나 죽는 사람이 생길지도 모른다는 생각하니 씁쓸하네요. […]우리나라 사람중에서도 고초를 겪는 사람이 있습니다.다름아닌 주식투자자입니다. 며칠전 북한의 로켓 발사가 임박했다는 소식이 전해지자 방위산업 관련주들이 테마주에 편입되면서 급등했습니다.

Although I welcomed the news of North Korea's unsuccessful rocket launch, at the same time, I was concerned about the perilous lives of North Koreans who are involved in its rocket launch programs. In the case of scientists who have the core knowledge on the program [this] would save their lives after being beaten [by the government], but I felt really sorry for [ordinary] scientists who will be dragged into a prison camp for their failure.[…] And there are South Koreans who will suffer from this launch failure: stock investors. When news on North Korea's impending rocket launch broke out in the past few days, there was a sharp spike in the value of bundled stock packages that include stocks in the security and defense industries.

Daum Agora user 이건좀아니다, after explaining about North Korean's brinksmanship strategy, complains [ko] that since its threat patterns have not changed for decades, it is the South Korean government's turn to come up with effective strategies to handle such a dire situation.

Controversy on North Korea's Satellite Launch

Lee Yoo Eun — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:23:32 +0000

North Korea invited foreign reporters to its satellite launch facility, asserting that the launch is peaceful in purpose. North Korea Tech blog wrote about the ongoing controversy and suspicions surrounding North Korea's space program.

One Day on Earth: Worldwide Collaborative Music Video Released

Juliana Rincón Parra — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 19:21:58 +0000

A new music video has been released in preparation for the worldwide screening of the Global Collaborative film One Day on Earth, which will take place in locations all around the planet on Earth Day (22 April, 2012). The video features musicians, poets and dancers captured on film all during the same 24 hour period in 10 October, 2010, artfully recut and remixed by Cut Chemist.

The collaborative film One Day on Earth was filmed all on the same day, October 10, 2010, with more than 3,000 hours of footage sent in from all corners of the world, showcasing the amazing diversity, conflict, tragedy, and triumph that occurs in one day. The Global Screening will take place on Earth Day (April 22, 2012) in every country of the world, with the assistance of World Heritage Sites and the United Nations.

The music video includes footage from India, Papua New Guinea, Benin, Burkina Faso, USA, China, North Korea, Mongolia, Kenya, Afghanistan, Jamaica, Spain, Taiwan and many other locations.

You can read more about the upcoming screening on our previous post One Day on Earth: Global Screening of Worldwide Collaborative Film and you can sign up for a screening in your city or town on the One Day on Earth site.

South Korea: Politician Ridiculed for Twitter Account “Explosion” Accusation

Lee Yoo Eun — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 10:04:09 +0000

In South Korea, tentions and conflicts have intensified as the major election draws near. One politician's ridiculous comment that his Twitter account was “exploded” by the opposition to stymie his campaign has come under fire.

As Twitter confirmed on March 29, 2012, that “account explosion” - which is the exact word the politician used - is technically impossible, the politician's remark and the governing conservative party's rhetoric have drawn numerous jokes and sneers online.

Twitter “explosion”?

The phrase “Twitter account explosion” is a strange term that even many South Koreans feel unfamiliar with. Its English equivalent and a proper universal term would be “account suspension”, but the language was adopted by the ruling Saenuri partyand its member Kim Jong-hoon to define Kim's Twitter malfunction.

Twitter Blue Bird, Image created by Csaba Nagy 2009, Credit to http://www.detrans.com.ve site, Copyrights Free for Non-commercial Purposes

They claimed such an “explosion” was caused by organized terror attacks [ko] and Kim even re-tweeted some highly offensive messages calling progressive sides “pro-North Korea red commies [Communists]” [ko]. Amid growing controversy over whether a mass attack could halt and shut down one's Twitter account or not, the official Korean Twitter account (@twitter_kr) settled this matter [ko] once for all:

정상적으로 활동중인 계정에 대해 다른 사용자들이 집단 차단을 한다고 해당 계정이 정지되지는 않습니다. 먼저 공격적인 팔로잉을 하는 과정에서 많은 사용자들이 차단하거나, 자신을 팔로우하지 않는 사용자들에게 반복 글을 보내는 경우가 대표 정지 원인입니다.

When the account is doing regular activities, it will not be suspended by mass blocks from other Twitter users. The main cause of suspension is when a user does ‘aggressive following' which results in getting blocks from many other users or when one tweets repetitive messages to other users who do not follow him.

Susie Lee‏ (@susielee) who works in Twitter main office added [ko]:

트위터 계정폭파란게 존재한다면 안티에 시달리는 연예인들 계정은 항상 폭파될것입니다. 누군가를 집중 스팸신고한다고 계정이 정지되진않습니다. 먼저 규정을 위반해 정지된후 피해자임을 주장하는 분들께 속지마시길 바랍니다.

If there is ever such a thing called ‘Twitter account explosion', the accounts of celebrities with numerous anti-fans would always explode, which means just repetitively reporting someone's account as spam cannot suspend the account. Don't be fooled by someone pretending to be a victim but who in fact got suspended for violating our regulations.

Influential tech blogger, Barry Lee, posted an analysis on this fiasco [ko] referencing the official Twitter help center's warnings on aggressive following:

If some accounts are aggressively or indiscriminately following hundreds of accounts just to garner attention […] when an account repeatedly follows and un-follows large numbers of users, this may be done to get lots of people to notice them, to circumvent a Twitter limit, or to change their follower-to-following ratio.[…] These behaviors negatively impact the Twitter experience for other users, are common spam tactics, and may lead to account suspension.

Lee added that the Saenuri party has adopted a new evaluation system on candidate's social networking abilities, which measures their networking by the number of Twitter followers.

For South Korean net users who have seen enough of these repetitive accusations, which blame anything unsolved and dubious on North Korea or pro-North Korean elements, it just provided another thing to ridicule and lampoon on Twitter and blogsphere.

A comment by 푸른하늘 은하수님(BlueSkyMilkyWay) posted right below a related news article summarized the fiasco [ko] in just a single sentence:

결국 트위터로 멘션 마구 뿌리다가 차단당했다는 거네..?

So… he was blocked by users after rampantly mentioning peoples' names in his tweets?

Twitter user @mettayoon tweeted [ko]:

김종훈의 트위터 계정이 종북좌파들에 의한 계정 폭파라고 분개했던 새누리당, 알고보니 무리하게 맞팔 늘리려다 계정폭파. 자폭도 참 다양하게 해요. 심심하지가 않다니까.

The Saenuri party was enraged after claiming that Kim's Twitter account explosion was done by pro-North Korean leftists. But it is proven to be an account suspension caused by aggressive attempts to increase its number of followers. What a refreshing [career] suicide action! Will they ever give us time to get bored?

Influential Twitterer, Baek Chan-hong (@mindgood) tweeted [ko]:

김종훈의 종북세력에 의한 계정폭파 주장은 트윗 본사가 규정위반에 의한 계정정지라고 밝힘에 따라 김종훈측은 맛팔용 마구잡이 팔로잉을 시도하다 스팸처리된 셈. 결과적으로 무지한 자들이 색깔론으로 판을 흔들려다 국제적 망신을 당한 것.

Kim Jong-hoon asserted that some pro-North Korean sides have ‘exploded' his account. But according to Twitter main office, it was an account suspension due to violation of user guidelines. What actually happened is that after he aggressively followed people to increase his follower numbers, his account was treated as spam. It is an international embarrassment for those ignorant people who unsuccessfully tried to bring the ideology/political angles into play [this refers to the fact that the party jumped to the conclusion that it was done by pro-Communists].

There is a Korean site ‘TWT119‘, which claims to save older tweets prior to account suspension and provide a backup service. TWT119 submitted an open letter to Twitter office asking to investigate further this case. However, blogger Berry Lee revealed [ko] what this site does is to merely translate users' complaints from Korean to English language. He added that users don't need this separate service since the official Twitter would have their own servers storing tweets.

China: Netizens Reactions to North Korea Satellite Launch

Oiwan Lam — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 10:19:51 +0000

On March 27, 2012, North Korea announced that it would not abandon its satellite launch in mid April despite United States (U.S.) President Barack Obama's high profile visit to South Korea this week. Strong reactions have come from South Korea and Japan, the latter having prepared its missile defense system in case the satellite rocket entered Japan's airspace.

As North Korea's closest ally, China's President Hu Jintao has been rather prudent in expressing his position. In the social media, the news has caught a lot of attention among netizens but their viewpoints are divided.

In the news discussion thread at Sina Weibo [zh], quite a number of netizens found North Korea courageous in confronting the U.S. hegemony:

superman哥哥：这本来就是，别的国家凭什么就不让人家发射卫星。就你可以吃肉别人就不可以啦！！！

superman哥哥：Well spoken. How could other countries stop a country from launching a satellite. How can you prevent others from eating meat while you enjoy eating meat!!!

称成：支持朝鲜。有能力有勇气。

称成：support North Korea. It has the ability and courage.

肥鸭KidAtCardiacSurgery：一个独立主权的国家为什么没有发射卫星的权利？!搞笑! 别的国家有什么资格管制

肥鸭KidAtCardiacSurgery：Of course an independent state should have the rights to launch satellites. What a joke! How could other countries intervene into other's internal affairs?

LGX9930：发射卫星不仅是主权国家的合法权利，也是促进经济发展的必要条件，所以不会放弃卫星发射计划。大国可以，小国不行吗？

LGX9930：Launching satellites is not only legitimate rights of an independent country. It is necessary for the nation's economic development. Of course it won't give up. Strong country can launch and small country can't?

长河落日故乡人：各方为何不呼吁美国和朝鲜共同放弃核？

长河落日故乡人：How come no one urges the U.S and the North Korea to become nuke-free?

路殿下：卫星发射需要钱，研究导弹也要钱，有了核武器维护更要钱。可是，如果不这么做，叙利亚伊朗那边就快扛不住了。这三个让美国头疼的铁三角，其实比和中国的关系更休戚相关。其实朝鲜也知道不能再靠大哥了，只有继续发展军事饮鸩止渴。此举符合我国的短期利益，否则金再鲁莽，也没这胆量，同时得罪中美。

路殿下：satellites, rockets and nuclear weapons, all need money. If they gave up the development of military technology, Syria and Iran could not maintain their control. The axis powers are a pain in the ass for the U.S.. North Korea knows that they cannot depend on its big brother [China] anymore, and they can only hold onto their control with the development of military force. Such a strategy serves China's short term interest, or else it won't have the guts to confront the U.S.

子虛烏有-先生：奧巴馬在這件事上歇斯抵里，朝鮮不給面，不為五斗米折腰，全世界人看美國出丑，霸權主義去死吧。

子虛烏有-先生：Obama is acting hysterically in this. North Korea won't give up in exchange for food aid, turning the U.S into a clown. Hegemony, please die.

穗海原川：我们58年连稻谷。麦子都放了那么多卫星了，不管是什么样的卫星，是不是卫星，总得给点面子，让人家放放嘛。

穗海原川：Remember we were starving back in 1958, we still launched so many satellites. Let's give [North Korea] some faces and let them launch their satellite or satellite-in-disguise.

At the same time, some argue that the North Korea satellite development will eventually harm China:

Daniel桑：回复@昊孟中月:用点脑好不好，你这样说就等于说为什么警察可以配枪，小偷们就不可以？朝鲜卫星升空意味着什么你知道吗？这颗卫星升空最头疼的就是中国

Daniel桑：reply to @昊孟中月: please use your brain. Why do we allow police officers to carry guns while not allowing thieves to do the same. Do you know the meaning of North Korea's satellite launch? It will be a headache for China.

热气青年3代：这就好像一把利刃握在一个疯子手中。

热气青年3代：This is like giving a sharp knife to a maniac.

mjintokyo：朝鲜的导弹最远只能飞到美国的阿拉斯加，不过中国全境都在其射程内。那些支持朝鲜的脑残，你们以为中国不用担心么。

mjintokyo：North Korea's rocket can only reach Alaska. But they can reach all corners in China. For those who support North Korea, do you think China has nothing to worry about?

There are also sarcastic comments such as the following:

吉普寨老农：好，朝方一定要坚持到底！届时打一场硬仗，各国争取一个月内消灭独裁政权

吉普寨老农：Great. North Korea should hold on and have a hard battle. Once the war starts, the dictator would be wiped off within a month.

Online Commentary on US President Obama's Visit to South Korea

Lee Yoo Eun — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:30:57 +0000

The Monster Island blog wrote several posts on US President Obama's visit to South Korea. Read the blogger's commentary on Obama's side trip to the demilitarized zone which is a de facto border between the two Koreas and President Obama's new Korean name.

Blogger Analysis on North Korea's Expected Rocket Trajectory

Lee Yoo Eun — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 04:44:30 +0000

North Korea Tech blog wrote about North Korea's rocket launch which is scheduled for next month. The blogger, after analyzing the International Maritime Organization's documents, predicted that the rocket will drop to earth in two stages off the western coast of South Korea and to the east of Luzon Island in the Philippines.

China and Koreas: North Korean Refugees

Oiwan Lam — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 07:26:45 +0000

Mary Soo Anderson writes about the North Korean refugees issue in China and urges human rights organizations continue fighting for them.

Both Koreas Appear on Reporters Without Borders' Annual List on Internet Censorship

Lee Yoo Eun — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 15:59:59 +0000

Reporters Without Borders released its annual report on internet censorship. North Korea again appeared on the “enemies of the internet” list and South Korea joined the list of “countries under surveillance” due to the government's clamp down on online contents considered “Pro-North Korea”. North Korea Tech blog wrote a brief analysis on this.

Korea: Criticisms Mount against China for Repatriating North Korean Defectors

Lee Yoo Eun — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 14:38:52 +0000

The Marmot's hole blog displayed interesting discussion threads on Chinese repatriation of North Korean defectors. Several reports revealed last week Chinese government sent back 31 North Korean defectors to North Korea where even families who helped those to escape from the country are being arrested and interrogated.