Slashdot Mirror

The North Korean statement itself is here:

The SONY Pictures, a film producer in the U.S., has reportedly been attacked by hackers.

The hacking is so fatal that all the systems of the company have been paralyzed, causing the overall suspension of the work and supposedly a huge ensuing loss.

Much upset by this, the U.S. mobilized many investigation bodies including FBI, CIA and the Department of Homeland Security for urgent investigation and recovery of the system.

We do not know where in America the SONY Pictures is situated and for what wrongdoings it became the target of the attack nor we feel the need to know about it.

But what we clearly know is that the SONY Pictures is the very one which was going to produce a film abetting a terrorist act while hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK by taking advantage of the hostile policy of the U.S. administration towards the DPRK.

We already called upon the world to turn out in the just struggle to put an end to U.S. imperialism, the chieftain of aggression and the worst human rights abuser that tramples down the universal rights of people to peaceful and stable life and violates the sovereignty of other countries, as well as its followers.

The hacking into the SONY Pictures might be a righteous deed of the supporters and sympathizers with the DPRK in response to its appeal.

What matters here is that the U.S. set the DPRK as the target of the investigation, far from reflecting on its wrongdoings and being shameful of being taken unawares. And the south Korean group, keen on serving its master, groundlessly linked the hacking attack with the DPRK and floated the "story about the north's involvement", an indication of its inveterate bitterness towards its country fellowmen.

The U.S. and south Korean puppet group are all accustomed to pulling up others for no specific reason when something undesirable happens in their own land.

The south Korean puppet group went the lengths of floating the false rumor that the north was involved in the hacking that happened in the U.S., a country far across the ocean.

It should be well aware that it can not evade the severe punishment by the anti-U.S. sacred war to be staged all over the world if it blindly curries favor with the U.S. as now.

The U.S. should also know that there are a great number of supporters and sympathizers with the DPRK all over the world as well as the "champions of peace" who attacked the SONY Pictures.

The righteous reaction will get stronger to smash the evil doings.

There's absolutely no need for the west to fabricate these bizarre claims. Are you at all familiar with the KCNA?

http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2012/201211/news29/20121129-20ee.html

This is an official mouthpiece of the DPKR. Read some stories on the site. It's some kind of bizarro world in which The DKPR is an embattled champion of freedom, and a really great place for the whole family!

Why would the west need to bother? The DKPR does the job for us.

You should be skeptical of all propaganda, but it does tell you a lot about the country that produces it. Try reading some North Korean propaganda: http://www.kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm and tell me what sort of country produces something like that.

Let's take a look at some of the current articles, shall we?

War Veteran Delegates Leave
Delegation of Korean War Veterans of Russia Leaves
S. Korean Believers Slam IS's Interference in Election
S. Korean Students Protest against IS's Interference in Election
DPRK's Victory in War Marked in Bulgaria, Czech Republic
Anniversary of Korean People's Victory in War Celebrated in Various Countries
Kim Jong Un Meets Women Soccer Players
Kim Jong Un Watches Men's Soccer Match

Hey, it looks pretty similar to Slashdot to me!

I am extremely skeptical when the US government tries to shovel propaganda in my direction.

You should be skeptical of all propaganda, but it does tell you a lot about the country that produces it. Try reading some North Korean propaganda: http://www.kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm and tell me what sort of country produces something like that.

So while I am certain that life in North Korea is nothing like we are told, I douubt that it is significantly better than it appears to be from the outside.

They said that if the US is about to start a nuclear war they reserve the right to make a pre-emptive strike, just like all nuclear armed countries do. There is no threat of action, merely a warning to the US that NK will defend itself.

Actually no; what they said was

The revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK will mount Korean-style precision nuclear strike at any target any moment at its will and thus realize earlier the great cause of national reunification, the cherished desire of the Korean nation.

in a document clearly repudiating the armistice agreement and claiming that the ongoing exercises are already "an open declaration of a war against the DPRK".

They are insane attention grabbers and that ignoring them (whilst trying to find ways to react to their possibly going even more insane and actually attacking) is the right thing but let's not lie about this please.

This is not true. They have their own news site on the real internet. The site is hosted in Japan.

http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2012/201203/news29/20120329-32ee.html

That is an article about the rocket before launch.

I suggest you read some North Korean 'news' before you make any judgments about how sane their leaders are. I think 'bat-shit crazy' pretty much sums it up. Or, 'lost in the 1930s with Our Hero Joe Stalin' if you prefer.

NK has been issuing statements like this for years. I take a peek at their news site every so often and there's always something that reads like this.

Not sure why Yahoo! or AFP or anyone else would suddenly consider this news. But I can take a few guesses.

There is hardly a soul on this planet who's life is not touched by linux in some fashion every single day. Windows has another chunk taken out of it every day it is death by a thousand cuts. If things continue on the path they currently are nearly everyone is going to be running around with linux in their pocket and soon.

Jesus. Every time I start to think that the Linux userbase isn't as bad as its reputation, someone like you comes along and proves me wrong. What you wrote there looks like it was copied and pasted from a KCNA post after a search-and-replace to get "Linux" and "Windows" in there...

I'm hesitant to post this; but here goes...

Despite the history of Korea being kicked around by the rest of Asia, there are many unofficial ties between DPRKorea and Japan. Whole communities of rich Juche supporters live in Japan. Even the official news outlet (Korea Central News Agency) runs under a jp domain...

As for my hesitancy: Outside of the obtuse one-liners, the standard Western person (and most news media) seems to be completely uninterested in that region, yet still feels that they should analyze and report on the situation.

China does not want North Korea to fall simply because of the economic (read: food) drain that would be placed on Northeast China. They don't want 23 million impoverished people flooding in through their border. Would you want 23 million people showing up in your state/province? In that same sense, South Korea (and the US as the stick holding them up) doesn't want that either. Instead, it's financially beneficial for us to let North Korea have a government that keeps them all contained. It just happens to be inconvenient that they want to build nukes and threaten us as well.

I actually met a North Korean guy in China. (He was in China legally; not an escapee) He was cordial though untrusting and thought I was European. We talked in Mandarin real briefly and even with the limited exchange we had it was apparent he was quite proud of Kim Jong-il. He stopped talking to me when I told him I'm American. North Koreans are indoctrinated to believe that the US imperialists' only goal is to destroy their country and kill off their people. If you read any of their news, you'd see this pretty clearly.

I also find it strange that you do not bring up Xinjiang province. That one is in a similar situation as Tibet. Basically, they're another province in China that wants to separate. A migrant worker of Uygher ethnicity in Southeast China lost his factory job and started a rumor that some Han men raped a Uygher woman. The rumor was false as the Uygher man admitted after the resultant riot broke out. That riot burned buses and raped/beat/murdered any member of the Han ethnicity that was living in Urumqi (capital of Xinjiang). It was brutal and senseless. Western media was not given free reign in Urumqi because of the way they spun the Tibetan riot before it. Spun. Western media has a knack for making aggressors look like victims. Tibet instigated violence but was cast as the victim. And remember the recent Georgian/Russian dispute?

So sure, Xinjiang and Tibet both want to be free from China. But is that a good thing? Upon separation, I can guarantee both new countries would be authoritarian--just as China is. The lives of the common people wouldn't improve by a simple political change, and many historical examples show this. The difference is that we don't know who their leaders would be. I'd rather have a stable evil that I understand than a new evil that I know nothing about.

I was just reading how much this isn't true. Seems convincing enough...

Xinhua is state run, so accusing a google of being a puppet of the government is kind of silly. Anyways, Chinese propaganda used to be a lot like the USSR's Pravda or KNCA today, but it's not quite that extreme anymore. That probably makes it more effective. I mean, don't people begin to catch on after 50 years of weekly "the west will experience nuclear armageddon at our hands" rants?

"The matchless fighting spirit of the leader, who continued the forced march of high intensity to vibrant hard-fought fields for an upsurge throughout the year, burning his heart with noble love of his country and fellow people, gave free rein to the mental strength of all the service personnel and people and worked world-startling miracles across the country." -- KCNA, http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2010/201001/news01/20100101-08ee.html

Xinhua is state run, so accusing a google of being a puppet of the government is kind of silly. Anyways, Chinese propaganda used to be a lot like the USSR's Pravda or KNCA today, but it's not quite that extreme anymore. That probably makes it more effective. I mean, don't people begin to catch on after 50 years of weekly "the west will experience nuclear armageddon at our hands" rants?

"The matchless fighting spirit of the leader, who continued the forced march of high intensity to vibrant hard-fought fields for an upsurge throughout the year, burning his heart with noble love of his country and fellow people, gave free rein to the mental strength of all the service personnel and people and worked world-startling miracles across the country." -- KCNA, http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2010/201001/news01/20100101-08ee.html

You're wrong. They're not just the Japanese. They're AT LEAST 'Japanese Reactionaries', but preferably 'Militarist Reactionary Confrontationist Japanese Ruling Forces', whose 'confrontational hysteria reveals their militarist disposition and ambition to swallow up the DPRK at any cost, without flinching even if they fail to do so'.

Following the KCNA is great fun.

Xinhua extensively fabricates stories that could be considered demoralizing to the PRC. It's still more reputable than the KNCA or Pravda, though.

That did in fact happen pretty much exactly like how you described.

That did in fact happen pretty much exactly like how you described.

Well, according to KCNA, the launch was a total success, a shining product of Korean self-reliance and an inspiration to the whole Korean people. No, really.

Re: Xinhua.
North Korea's version is KCNA http://www.kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm You're absolutely right these official government mouth-pieces are from some other "reality". I find it...interesting to say the least. To a lower extent, but not much, is Iran's IRNA http://www.irna.com/en/ All three make Fox News look like the most balanced and unbiased news you can possibly get.

We need to realize that the word "journalist" does not apply to everyone who can type at >30wpm. There are standards. Someone from The Nation is a reporter, even though he will almost always blast the government for one reason or another. Journalists are very critical of government (TFA being an example) so I am not implying that only state supported media is good. This is what happens when the state gains too much control over media (I think it's a comedy, but they call it news). But when will people who videotape their crime sprees start asserting that they cannot be held accountable because they consider themselves journalists?

Doesn't anyone see how this could be fun? Yeah, mending socks doesn't sound like a thrill, but what do you do for XPs when you're weak in a commercial fantasy game? Endlessly stab chickens? How is that more fun? No, I think mending socks in a sweatshop that more of a feel of honest labor.

I think my talent would be in being a newspaper reporter for the government. I'd try my best to sound like this North Korean paper. Really, it would be a blast! And I bet there would be all sorts of neat quests, like stopping burglars, helping fishermen, getting a village to quit smoking... the sort of stuff that would be really refreshing after months of "deliver this scroll to Naldemor and you shall receive this +2 sword and lots of XP!" Yes, it would take a lot of creativity to make this game fun, but I guess I am one of these people who still appreciates creativity.

At least to people living on the outside and looking in, they frequently seem inept and/or comical.

Indeed. I like to read North Korea news stories just for the entertainment value. They would be hilarious if they weren't so sad.

You quote South Koreans. North Koreans have (or at least that's what they talk loud) quite different opinion. 50 years of indoctrination means two-three generations risen and educated in North Korean madness.

Here is their news agency site:
http://www.kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm

Free websites for the most part

Here are the sites in my News pull down
http://www.drudgereport.com/
http://www.slashdot.org/
http://www.jpost.com/
http://www.maarivintl.com/index.cfm
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/
http://www.arabnews.com/
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
http://news.google.com/
http://www.kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm
feed://newsrss.bbc.co.uk/rss/newsonline_world_ed it ion/front_page/rss.xml
http://www.globalsecurity.org/

I also hit CNN.com, some of the other British papers on the web, occasionally the local news TV station's websites.

My focus is on the Middle East, so I hit alot of Israeli papers. I go to about 1 blog everyother day, other than Fark.

You are a retard : Tell me where on their own Press Agency web site the DRNK announced they had such weapons ? Of course, you might have read it on cnn, like Condi did. Please, fuck off and die.

So now that Kim Jong-Il feels protected, what will he do? What will he do with the army he spent 60% of the GDP of the country building? I mean, it's not exactly like that country has been just sitting around, doing nothing since the Korean War. It's been conducting raids in South Korea, there have been numerous territorial water violations (with shots fired and people dying), it's been abducting Japanese civilians to train spies, it's been selling nuclear know-how to other countries (Pakistan, for example), etc. Now that North Korea feels a lot more resilient to an attack, might it not also feel that the US would be much more reluctant to enter into a Korean conflict with the threat of nukes being fired?

I mean, in the North, it's one man's decision - Kim's. What is he thinking? Does he think the US will not risk that kind of war, especially when it's tied up in Iraq? Or do Kim's old survival instincts still tell him that a war is a sure way to lose power, and these nukes are just part of a larger way of getting aid flowing back into the country (with seems unlikely in the next four Bush years)? Either way, this isn't good news. The first option starts a war that will bring much death and broken bodies, the latter will prolong a regime that sends out movies to its citizens teaching them how to eat grass due to a shortage of food.

As an aside, I'm waiting anxiously to see what is reported on North Korea's official news agency tomorrow (they're always a day behind). Most of the news items on this website are ridiculous (i.e., president of Congo celebrates Kim's birthday, Kim gets fruit basket from Palenstinians, Japan declared wicked trickster, etc.), but I wonder if they will mention this announcement.

The U.S. has talked much about the "six-way talks" over the "nuclear issue," asserting that "it has no intention to invade the north", but it is aimed to cover up its aggressive nature, he noted, warning that one should not be taken in by such trick of the U.S.
The anti-Americanism of the south Korean people has gained momentum in the wake of the June 15 joint declaration, he said. He expressed the conviction that the mindset of the south Korean people following leader Kim Jong Il and supporting his Songun policy will grow stronger as the days go by and national reunification will come true thanks to this policy.

If you haven't seen this, have a look; it reads like an overblown parody of 1984, but it's real.

Korean Central News Agency of Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea

Any government that can publish this with a straight face needs to be overthrown... :(

you have to realize that most companies are forbidden to export anything to N.K. And to think the latency of the last explosion getting out - it's no wonder as there are 1.1million phone lines in a country of 22.7m people. cellular phone availability data is nonexistant, and all the phone are routed through beijing and russia.

sort of to answer the origial story, though - N.K. probably is using china's networks to get online not necessarily because china have anything to do it other than just selling them bandwidth (just like MCI could be selling bandwidth to western malicious internet personalities without knowledge). I do wonder if the said hackers have to contend with the firewall of china, though...

A quick Google search reveals other:

* DPKR Official Home page
* DPKR News Agency

A quick Google search reveals other:

* DPKR Official Home page
* DPKR News Agency

• DPKR Official Home page
• DPKR News Agency

• DPKR Official Home page
• DPKR News Agency

KCNA, the NK "news" agensy has had a website for years in Japan. It is under the JP TLD, and the new one is under the NET TLD.

KCNA functions as the spokesperson for the DPKR, the state of North Korea. Probably the least independent news agency in the world, Fox News included.

...which is what I wonder about this email service that is "guaranteed to be secure". So if my email gets snooped out, can I drop into North Korea to file a complaint? Do they have a toll-free number I can call? Will I get my money back? Will I survive the experience of attempting to file a complaint? Or will they just mail me a conciliatory blob of yakbab?

Movie Mirror #1 (Japan)

Now, I've not always considered myself and idiot, but lately I've come to believe that's the case. For example, I find myself monitoring the North Korean News Agency and actually expecting to find news. I did, however, find this:

Symatic Antivirus Policy Flailed

Pyongyang, February 14 (KCNA) -- The DPRK calls upon the Symantic "corporation" to behave itself. Unchecked viral aggression under the guise of helpful support is obvious to all but the US warmongers. The peace of all nations is it at stake, and it should be noted that the so-called "Slammer" worm was an effort by imperialists to stifle the peace-loving livelihoods of the DPRK.

Now that the guise is unmasked, no one but war mongers see the clear provocations. The DPRK reminds the US that such clear efforts to undermine stability on the peninsula by allowing servers to go "unplugged" and "unfixed" merely underscore the fragile nature of the current nuclear-war situation.

Hostile Microsoft Policy Flailed

Pyongyang, February 14 (KCNA) -- The hostile policy of the Microsoft "corporation" has been assailed. It is none other than Microsoft imperialists in the lunatic guise of US imperialists who flagrantly attempt to defend interests none other than there own.

Noting that this guise has been seen through, the DPRK urges Microsoft to behave itself. Meanwhile, Microsoft continues its flagrant "embrace" and "extend" operations to incorporate none other than Apple "Macintosh". It must be understood that such moves are obvious to all but the aggressors. Until a peace treaty is ratified by the US war mongers, the DPRK continues to step up its careful preparations for full scale nuclear war. This is but more proof of the agressors real intentions.

Anecdote about Kim Jong Il

Pyongyang, February 14 (KCNA) -- Kim Jong Il took a walk on the grounds of a military academy and saw that many of his people were without valentines. He stayed up for two nights straight in order to get valentines for his beloved people. He then called his friends in Montenegro to send over some sex slaves. When the slaves arrived, Kim Jong Il toasted them with Hennessy VSOP cognac and a lobster feast and then brought them over to the factory.

But when Kim Jong Il and sex slaves arrived, they saw that all the workers had perished due to the cold winter and lack of heat. Kim Jong Il toasted his beloved people with more Hennessey VSOP and had another lobster feast and then ordered the slaves back to the house for a party.

Dragon's Lair Neagativity Assailed

Pyongyang, February 12 (KCNA) -- The US conspiracy in criticizing 'Dragon's Lair 3D' clearly proves that the U.S. is making absurd pretexts for overtaking DPRK fun with nuclear force, if necessary. It is all the more ridiculous when beloved Dirk the Daring is used by US war-mongers to enhance negative feelings among the the world's gamers.

The US remains committed to "secret" plans to topple the DPRK and criticism of fun-loving video games is just but one transparent ploy in the war-mongers game of double-standards.

The US should "pull out" all troops from South Korea and engage in proper dialogue. Until the US video mongers offer DPRK a non-aggression treaty signed by all congress members, the so-called "nuclear issue" of "Dirk the Daring" will not be settled.

Pyongyang, February 12 (KCNA) -- In 1988, General Secretary Kim Jong Il visited a factory where people were very cold and had little food. He saw that there were no video games and suggested that fifteen minutes of proper video gaming would strengthen deeply cherished feelings and love of the country.

Seeing no video games available, however, General Secretary Kim Jong Il stayed up for two straight nights in order to give his beloved workers proper fun. Finally, General Secretary Kim Jong Il called upon his Libyan friends to deliver three cases of counterfeit Mickey Mouse cups for the workers. Seeing the cups, the workers were very pleased and held a toast with empty cups to their dear leader with their new cups. General Secretary Kim Jong Il hoped that although the cups weren't video game they would understand the spirit of the video games and to be entertained and enlightened nonetheless.

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I agree with the stance that free press is unreliable just as much as a state-run press. Both have objectives and agendas.

Example 1. In Canada one company owns most of the province-wide dailys. I haven't looked that much into the company, but you can probably guess the interests of the company is reflected in the content and perspective of the stories they run. There have been many times when a major detail or headline was incorrectly reported (often implying someone of something), only to have that oversight corrected in a tiny 2 x 1 box on the last page of the classifieds section. Well, the damage has already been done, the misinformation has already been accepted, and the newspaper cannot be held accountable because they did infact print a correction. The question is, was the misprint a genuine mistake, or intentionally crafted?

Example 2. CNN is one of the only American news stations we get up here (aside from prime-time CBS, NBC, ABC, which use CNN for a source frequently). Ok, we get MSNBC too (please). But talk about blowing reason and perspective out of the water. For a month following September 11 CNN was a place to be force fed. By who? For what end?

People build their lives around the news. They implicitly rely on the news to inform them and to help shape their attitudes towards various issues. My view is that there is no independent free press. Ultimately neither form of press is better than the other. Fabrication of facts is just the same as the intentional manipulation of them.

Of course the mere act of reporting an event can be deemed an intentional manipulation however unintentional. And fabrication or misleading done by an agency of the state that opposes what we consider to be basic human rights is bad. But it still makes you think.

I read the Vancouver Sun and (usually) take it at face value. I watch CNN. Time-to-time I check out the BBC and even the North Korean state-run press. But if you really think about it, it's about picking your own poison.

I thumb through it every now and then. Most of it is utter bosh, but occasionally there's some real gems in it. My favorite was the reference to the Korean War which was started by the United States and from which North Korea emerged victorious.

What worries me is that eventually the powers that be in North Korea might start believing their own superiority bullshit and do something rash.

2. Huh? So a city just disappears and when no culprit is found in the first 5 minutes we'll all just shrug, say 'aww, schucks', and get on with life? I don't think so.

3. 'Never' is a very strong word to use. True, it is unlikely that any leader would test out the MAD scenario, but are you really willing to bet several million of your fellow citizens on your fortune-telling?

4. Lemme put it this way. There exist countries whose citizens have, in fairly recent history, publicly chanted 'Death to America' or something similar. Their leaders repeatedly make threats against the US (read the North Korean news service sometime). Now some of these countries are developing weapons of mass destruction that could, with the press of a button, wipe out significant portions of our population. And you tell me that we shouldn't worry? How about we send all our cops out without any protection whatsoever since the bad guys would never dare attack an officer of the law .

5. Evidently you've never spent time in our public school system.

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