Slashdot Mirror


North Korea's School For Hackers?

Makoto writes "How do you launch a cyber-war with no IP infrastructure? South Korea claims that North Korea is training about 100 "cybersoldiers" per year in electronic warfighting tools and techniques, including writing viruses and hacking. But according to a story at Wired News, North Korea can barely keep its electrical grid up - not to mention feed its people. Even the Pentagon says North Korea's hacker academy is probably just propaganda by South Korea."

260 of 386 comments (clear)

  1. Or maybe it's true by beallj · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Just because they don't have a general electrical grid doesn't mean that they can't keep electricity going to their "hacker compound".

    1. Re:Or maybe it's true by Mr+Smidge · · Score: 1

      Just because they don't have a general electrical grid doesn't mean that they can't keep electricity going to their "hacker compound".

      Quite true. Something as important as training their own l33t hax0rs for international cyberwars might just warrant their own electricity generator, perhaps.

    2. Re:Or maybe it's true by jrl87 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Your right, but what if part of their training is to try to hack a server on the other side of town before a power outage knocks it out.

    3. Re:Or maybe it's true by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's a very restricted society though. No Jolt, no Cheetos, probably very limited pr0n resources....people do need motivation and energy afterall. Do the N. Koreans honestly think they can win? Fah..

    4. Re:Or maybe it's true by Alkaiser · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Just because they're hacker from North Korea doesn't mean they live in North Korea. All they have to do is cross 1 border, and they're in the most wired nation in the world.

      Who keeps all their spies in their own country anyway?

      --
      Netjak.com independent reviews of domestic & import video ga
    5. Re:Or maybe it's true by invultor · · Score: 5, Funny

      How about a gun pointed at their head? I'm sure that is motivation enough.

    6. Re:Or maybe it's true by Walter+Wart · · Score: 1

      Crossing that one border isn't trivial. And when they do, what are the chances that hax0r599 will do what he's supposed to? Odds are he'll decide that running water, heat in the winter and more than 900 calories a day beats the hell out freezing, starvation and having you, your parents, and your grandparents sent off to the death camps.

      --
      The man who never alters his opinion is like the stagnant water and breeds Reptiles of the Mind -- William Blake
    7. Re:Or maybe it's true by Alkaiser · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You're assuming that his parents, grandparents, etc, aren't going to be under constant threat if he doesn't fulfill his obligations while he's there.

      In addition, you underestimate the value of propaganda. Some of those guys are seriously brainwashed. Just because you can use a computer exceptionally well doesn't mean that you have a lick of common sense.

      --
      Netjak.com independent reviews of domestic & import video ga
    8. Re:Or maybe it's true by rcw-home · · Score: 1
      You're assuming that his parents, grandparents, etc, aren't going to be under constant threat if he doesn't fulfill his obligations while he's there.

      Heh. In 'civilized' countries, spies are usually self-selected from the population that has no family of any sort.

      The backwardsness is so incredibly thorough.

    9. Re:Or maybe it's true by timeOday · · Score: 1

      Ah yes, just one little border.

    10. Re:Or maybe it's true by IdleTime · · Score: 1

      nmap 10.2.2.2 ?

      --
      If you mod me down, I *will* introduce you to my sister!
    11. Re:Or maybe it's true by antimuon · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but it's probably too expensive over there. Over here we have a hacking school run on the a couple of wires and some chewing gum... it goes under the code name.... Slashdot! :D

    12. Re:Or maybe it's true by ktakki · · Score: 1
      Crossing that one border isn't trivial. And when they do, what are the chances that hax0r599 will do what he's supposed to? Odds are he'll decide that running water, heat in the winter and more than 900 calories a day beats the hell out freezing, starvation and having you, your parents, and your grandparents sent off to the death camps.


      First of all, no, crossing the border isn't trivial. That's why North Korea uses submarines to infiltrate the South. Take a look at the west coast of the Korean Peninsula on a map: it's almost a Mandelbrot fractal. Plenty of places for your 1337 K0r34N H4X0rZ to come ashore.

      Then there are the underground tunnels North Korea digs under the DMZ, a legacy of Great Leader Kim Il Sung's fondness for the '60s sitcom Hogan's Heroes.

      Finally, the disparity in living conditions between NATO countries and the Warsaw Pact didn't seem to have much of an impact on the efficacy of Soviet espionage operations. Granted, it wasn't as wide a gap as that between North and South Korea, but it shows that one shouldn't underestimate an agent's loyalty to his country (or concern for the safety of his family during his absence).

      k.
      --
      "In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart." - Anne Frank
    13. Re:Or maybe it's true by SealBeater · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yeah, but are they getting a blowjob at the same time?

      SealBeater

      --
      -- Its survival of the fittest...and we got the fucking guns!!!
    14. Re:Or maybe it's true by betat · · Score: 1

      How about a gun pointed at their head and a blow job?

    15. Re:Or maybe it's true by macdaddy357 · · Score: 1

      Their "hackers" are actually just hackey sack players.

      --
      How ya like dat?
    16. Re:Or maybe it's true by shadowless · · Score: 1

      Come on, they are not training their whole population. In such a country, there's a gap between two classes of people : normal (and above) and below normal (Hell, this gap exists everywhere.) There's no evidence that North Korea can't supply an average life to - say - 30% percent of its population, so why it cannot be?

      --
      Programming is the art that actually fights back!
    17. Re:Or maybe it's true by nelsonal · · Score: 1

      Wish I had mod points, I let a few expire last time, yours was definitly worth one.

      --
      Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
    18. Re:Or maybe it's true by 1u3hr · · Score: 1
      If they can build ICBMs and are well on the way to making atomic bombs, supporting some ninja hackers is not a problem.

      The country is desperately poor, but the military is one of the largest in the world (not unrelated facts). I think it quite likely they do have military hackers, after all all you need are some generic PCs and a dial up connection.

      Whether "cyberwar" is actually any use at all in the real world is another question. They'd probably focus on defensive measures, protecting their own assets from US penetration.

    19. Re:Or maybe it's true by nametaken · · Score: 1

      Yeah, seriously, what does it REALLY take to make a "hacking school". We're not talking about a functional space program here. A few grand, a low speed net connection, and some people willing to work could constitute this "school". I mean, I'm going to bet that most of the kids in our ridiculously wealthy country have a much better foundation, and better resources available to do what they're talking about here. I'm not too concerned.

    20. Re:Or maybe it's true by TwistedGreen · · Score: 1

      Virtually undisturbed for half a century the zone has also become a rugged natural haven for several endangered species including the white-naped and red-crowned cranes as well as nearly extinct Korean subspecies of tiger and leopard.

      hehe

    21. Re:Or maybe it's true by kevmit · · Score: 1

      Yeah...because it's so much better to be eaten by a tiger than be shot.

    22. Re:Or maybe it's true by Alkaiser · · Score: 1

      Yeah, my point exactly. There's not even a concerted brainwashing effort going on wherever that guy is from...just the media.

      --
      Netjak.com independent reviews of domestic & import video ga
  2. Well, c'mon... by Skyshadow · · Score: 5, Interesting
    But according to a story at Wired News, North Korea can barely keep its electrical grid up - not to mention feed its people.

    While that's true, they've also managed to turn out atomic weapons, which is quite a bit more complicated than training someone to use nmap. So, really, a lack of a reliable national power grid and insufficiant will to feed the masses does not necessarily exclude the possibility that they're training script kiddies....

    --
    Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
    1. Re:Well, c'mon... by CowboyBob500 · · Score: 1

      I suspect that North Korea's nuclear weapons are about as real as Iraq's chemical weapons.

      Bob

    2. Re:Well, c'mon... by Black+Copter+Control · · Score: 4, Interesting
      I suspect that North Korea's nuclear weapons are about as real as Iraq's chemical weapons.

      Except for the fact that -- unlike Iraq,which did it's best to prove that it didn't have any -- North Korea admits to having them. This is also confirmed (to some extent) by US intelligence.

      Consider also: The US is pussey-footing around N. Korea.

      --
      OS Software is like love: The best way to make it grow is to give it away.
    3. Re:Well, c'mon... by jericho4.0 · · Score: 4, Informative

      This site, the Federation of American Scientists, has a comprehensive look at DRK's nuclear program. They're a lot more real than Iraq's WMD. It might be debatable if they have one today, but I wouldn't want to bet on it.

      --
      "A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" - Alan Perlis
    4. Re:Well, c'mon... by Doom+Ihl'+Varia · · Score: 1

      North Korea admits to having [nuclear weapons].

      I take it you arn't a Poker player....

    5. Re:Well, c'mon... by Arandir · · Score: 1

      Before Bush took office, everyone believed that Iraq had WMD. Clintong believed it. Gore believed it. Even CNN believed it. What were ten years of UN inspections for anyway?

      Just because they aren't there now doesn't mean that they weren't there at one time. They had enough time between the announcement that the US was coming and the actual arrival that they could have moved them out of the country. I don't know if they did that or not, but there was a heck of a lot of evidence found that they did have them and were continuing to develop them.

      --
      A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
    6. Re:Well, c'mon... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      They're a lot more real than Iraq's WMD.

      They haven't found Saddam Hussein in Iraq either. Therefore, he must have been a lie of the Bush administration, too.

    7. Re:Well, c'mon... by r00tarded · · Score: 1

      Actually it was a story in the North Korean press that Wired News can barely keep its electricity up - not to mention pay its people.

    8. Re:Well, c'mon... by vladkrupin · · Score: 3, Insightful

      While that's true, they've also managed to turn out atomic weapons, which is quite a bit more complicated than training someone to use nmap.

      You've gotta love our fellow /.'ers who are still that naive. We've got to put them in a jar and keep them in a museum for future generations to look at - it would be a shame if we loose you guys for good...

      No, I didn't mean to insult you, skyshadow (sorry if I did), but seriously, when was the last time we could trust what we hear from the media in general or the whitehouse in particular? Even South Korea now says that most likely the Noth is bluffing, and there is precisely zero conclusive intelligence results to substantiate the claim that they have any nukes. They are bluffing and trying to blackmail US and others into giving them energy (they really don't have much of a choice, BTW). It's that simple.

      Also consider that according to intelligence, N Korea possibly has enough radioactive material for a bomb. No proof of the existence of the bomb itself though. No word of whether they have sufficient expertise to build one. If you consider that we have an 'undeniable' proof that Iraq has chemical, biological and possibly nuclear weapons, and we haven't found squat there yet, I wouldn't be very convinced that allegations about Korea are anywhere close to truth at all. After all, if we can't find evidence to back up the 'undeniable proof', what are the chances of finding evidence to support the 'possibility'?

      And claiming that they were preparing hackers for 20 years... Give me a break! If 20 years ago we knew what computers would become now, chances are everyone would've given much thought to such things as security, Y2K problems, etc, and we wouldn't be seeing a few dozen new M$ holes a week. I doubt any country, including (and especially) N.Korea could've had that much foresight. US didn't see that; Europe didn't; N.Korea did. They must have a really good magic 8-ball or something!

      It's very easy to declare someone you don't like a terrorist, an axis of evil, and blame them for all possible sins while attaching every negative label available. Especially when no proof of such allegations is necessary, or even expected. While I don't know much about N.Korea in particular (besides that they aren't the nicest guys on the block), I am very sceptical that any of the allegations made can stick to them. The only reason why these allegations aren't seen as totally bogus is that it's not in their best interests to refute them. They want to look scarier than they really are so they can blackmail others into giving them what they need (in this case energy, whether in petroleum from US or otherwise). And all that cyber-terrorism crap is nothing more than a FUD that is a result of someone's sick imagination.

      --

      Jobs? Which jobs?
    9. Re:Well, c'mon... by vladkrupin · · Score: 1

      They're a lot more real than Iraq's WMD. It might be debatable if they have one today, but I wouldn't want to bet on it.

      I wouldn't bet on it either - everything is quite possible. But I sure do hope that they are, as you say "a lot more real than Iraq's WMD". I mean, after all that time searching in Iraq, anyone can claim to have more real WMD than them... That's like saying 'I am stronger than a 2-year old!' Duh!...

      Funny... Iraq probably had some WMD a while back, but did their best to deny it. N.Korea probably doesn't have anything, but tries to make it look like they do. Both get screwed. That's what I call justice :)

      --

      Jobs? Which jobs?
    10. Re:Well, c'mon... by saforrest · · Score: 1

      I take it you arn't a Poker player....

      Well, the U.S. is pussyfooting around North Korea. You can take this as evidence that the U.S. believes they have nuclear weapons, or that the U.S. doesn't care about them because they don't have oil, or both, depending on your political persuasion.

    11. Re:Well, c'mon... by Mostly+a+lurker · · Score: 1
      Well, the U.S. is pussyfooting around North Korea. You can take this as evidence that the U.S. believes they have nuclear weapons, or that the U.S. doesn't care about them because they don't have oil, or both, depending on your political persuasion.

      All of the above. The U.S. has nothing to gain except a massive headache from an invasion of North Korea. The possibility that they may have functional nuclear weapons is an additional deterrent. North Korea is an economic basketcase, relying for years on remittances from overseas Koreans to prevent total collapse. It is quite unlikely that they could successfully mount a nuclear attack. That said, the possibility cannot be completely excluded. Rightly or wrongly, they believe that a nuclear deterrent is the only way they can prevent a U.S. invasion (I think they are wrong -- as already indicated, there is a strong economic disincentive to such an action). Regardless, development of nuclear weapons is a key priority for the North Korean leadership.

    12. Re:Well, c'mon... by mr100percent · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Unlikely they could attack?

      North Korea fired a test missile that landed in Alaska. How did Iraq's alleged WMDs become our top priority?

      Simple, Iraq is in a hotspot (Oil, proximity to Saudis and Israelis), and N. Korea would remind the public of the horrors of Vietnam. Which invading president would you vote for?

    13. Re:Well, c'mon... by bagsc · · Score: 1

      Chemical weapons are a lot easier to make disappear than nuclear weapons are to make.
      1) Find river
      2) Dump

      While PDRK intel is worse than the crappy Iraqi intel, their threats to use these weapons force you to assume they have them.

      --
      http://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
    14. Re:Well, c'mon... by jericho4.0 · · Score: 1
      I never said anything about Iraq, but anyway;
      Yes, Iraq had a 'WMD' program before the invasion/liberation, I agree. The evidence is quite strong that the Iraq administration had some interest in various forms of nasty things.

      North Korea most definatly has an interest in nasty things. They almost certainly have a nuke (or several), and they might (or might not) have the ability to deliver them via ICBM. That doesn't really matter, because they can always deliver them via FedEx.

      This thread started off talking about the DPK, but it had an implicit focus on 'What does this mean for the U.S?'. My viewpoint starts at; 'Who cares?' We're not all American, we're not all conviced that the U.S model is the only way to go, and the thought of somebody being able to challenge the U.S actually gives me hope, not fear.

      --
      "A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" - Alan Perlis
    15. Re:Well, c'mon... by donkiemaster · · Score: 1

      so your lesson is to...believe the opposite of what the white house tells us? Or to just not trust anything they say? Since you obviously have the facts correct because you are just that smart, please tell us how exactly you came to the conclusion that they do not have nukes. Because you can't see them? Because you can't see them and because you don't like dubya? Does it really make sense to just assume that they do not have nukes? I don't think so, and I am sure that even if there are people that "know" they don't have nukes, there are enough people that are unsure enough to tell them to shut the hell up because the consequences of assuming they have none are far worse than assuming they do. The fact is that they claim to have nukes. If there is a bomb thread in a building, you evacuate the building. It's that simple. It doesn't matter that 9999 times out of 10,000 the threat is false, you don't take the chance. And of course I understand that we can't take everyone seriously with this type of threat, but this is not just some high school bully. So before you condescend to people "beneath" you, and then make a lame apology (wow, trying to put yourself on the intellectual AND moral high ground in one response, how noble), please stick your foot in your mouth because that fungus on the end of your toes could probably construct more logical thoughts than you.

  3. School for hackers eh? by Plissken · · Score: 1, Funny

    Would they be employing Kevin?

    1. Re:School for hackers eh? by kevmit · · Score: 1

      Nope. Kevin is already employed here: Intense School

  4. Hmm...Practice by uberdave · · Score: 4, Funny

    Maybe they can't keep the power grid up because the CyberWarrior School uses that as a practice target.

    Come and get me Script Kiddies! My IP address is 127.0.0.1

    1. Re:Hmm...Practice by deadsaijinx* · · Score: 1

      great, just what we need, more script kiddies.

      --
      YOU SUCK BALLS!
    2. Re:Hmm...Practice by DeltaSigma · · Score: 5, Funny

      Hah! I just scanned 127.0.0.1 and all your ports are open, prepare for the system halt of your life!

    3. Re:Hmm...Practice by cperciva · · Score: 5, Funny

      Come on, nobody is going to believe that. You should have written this:

      Hah! I just scanned 127.0.0.1 and all your ports are open, prepare for the system halt of your li+++ATH NO CARRIER

    4. Re:Hmm...Practice by TrekkieGod · · Score: 1

      Hah! I just scanned 127.0.0.1 and all your ports are open, prepare for the system halt of your life! Go ahead, pal. I protected his computer with a corbomite device. Whatever you attempt to do to his computer, will, instead happen to yours. Don't believe me? Try it.

      --

      Warning: Opinions known to be heavily biased.

    5. Re:Hmm...Practice by cjsnell · · Score: 1

      Hah! I just scanned 127.0.0.1 and all your ports are open, prepare for the system halt of your li+++ATH NO CARRIER

      That's so 1993. I think you meant...

      Hah! I just scanned 127.0.0.1 and all your ports are open, prepare for the system halt of your liConnection closed by foreign host
      bash$

    6. Re:Hmm...Practice by vladkrupin · · Score: 2, Funny

      Hah! I just scanned 127.0.0.1 and all your ports are open, prepare for the system halt of your li+++ATH NO CARRIER

      No, just checked - 127.0.0.1 is still up, and all ports are still open. Nuking again!

      --

      Jobs? Which jobs?
  5. Good for them. by Henry+Stern · · Score: 2, Funny

    So what if they can't keep the power grid up now. If their government-sanctioned hax0r d00dz piss in the wrong corn flakes, they will have a lot more trouble with their power grid, communications systems, sewage systems and whatever else air strikes like to land on.

    So what do you think? Can government-spondored hacking (I really hate the "cracking" euphemism, sorry) be considered an act of war?

    1. Re:Good for them. by marko123 · · Score: 1

      If you were a teacher in a hacking school, would you fail any of your students or kick them out of school? Make them disappear, maybe...

      --
      http://pcblues.com - Digits and Wood
    2. Re:Good for them. by boicy · · Score: 1
      Hackers lexicon

      And it says:

      "Controversy: The computer-enthusiast community does not like using "hacker" to describe malicious people; they prefer "cracker". The security-community restricts the use of the word "cracker" to some who breaks encryption and copy-protection schemes.

      Consequently, a journalist who writes about cybercriminals cannot use either word without hate mail from the opposing community claiming they are using the word incorrectly. If a journalists writes about hackers breaking into computers, they will receive hate-mail claiming that not all hackers are malicious, and the that the correct word is "cracker". Likewise, if they write about crackers breaking into computers, they will receive hate-mail claiming that crackers only break codes, but its hackers who break into systems. The best choice probably depends upon the audience; for example one should definitely talk about malicious crackers in a computer-enthusiast magazine like Linux Today."

      This is one I've always been confused about too. But I reckon I'm on the side of "Crackers".

  6. A pattern ? by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 1

    Link this article with that one and you know how the next Korean war will take place (with the 3l337 south koreans this time).

    Thank you Slashdot !

    --
    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
    1. Re:A pattern ? by porky_pig_jr · · Score: 1

      "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash ... with thousands of hungry north koreans on the other side ...

  7. Uses by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Oh, the Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea has no problem keeping the lights on at its military bases. It's the civil population that suffers. The DPRK military hoards food shipments for itself instead of distributing it to the people. But hey, the mass starvation in North Korea can hardly be laid at the feet of the ruling Communist government. Let's all repeat together - "IT'S AMERICA'S FAULT!"

    --
    Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    1. Re:Uses by vladkrupin · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Oh, the Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea has no problem keeping the lights on at its military bases.

      Show me a country that does have a problem with that. Especailly a non-democratic country. But even in a democratic one. Consider our military budget versus, say, education or wellfare budget. The ratio is kinda skewed, isn't it? Notice I said 'our' - that's because a similar ratio can be observed in any country you are reading slashdot from (some are notorious for over-bloated 'defence' budgets, but all are guilty to some extent).

      And while your country can afford the bloat without starving the people, N.Korea can't. So they opt to starving them. Very sad, very inhumane, yet not terribly different from the country you or I come from.

      --

      Jobs? Which jobs?
    2. Re:Uses by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1
      Oh, I agree. North Korea spends way too much of its national output on its military, especially during a famine. Its welfare spending is actually negative, in that it receives vast amounts of food aid from abroad, in excess of that which it needs to feed its own people.

      And you say the North Korean Communists are just about the same as the collective Western democracies? Man, were you one of those people who thought the Soviet Union was the land of revolution and the last, best hope for mankind?

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    3. Re:Uses by vladkrupin · · Score: 1

      Man, were you one of those people who thought the Soviet Union was the land of revolution and the last, best hope for mankind?

      Man, how did you guess? I am from Soviet Union... errr... Russia. Seriously.

      And though I didn't think that we were the best hope, as you say (c'mon Russians weren't like borgs though most westerners did view us as such), being in Soviet Union at that time taught me to view government spending as an incomprehensible formula with thousands of variables, and just a few constants. One of the latter being 'defense budget'. To my amazement, this fenomenon was not unique to our evil communist party - I've seen it in virtually every other country since then. There are a few exceptions, of course, like Japan and Germany after the WW2 (who were forced into that 'exceptionsl' state, a few european countries that don't feel threatened, etc.

      Yes, they are evil and we are democratic. I don't disagree with that. But when it comes to military budgets somehow we look very much alike. Defense budget is like your house payment. Usually the more you earn, the more you pay for your housing, but you can't pay less than the cheapest rent in your area. Unless, of course, you opt to be homeless. In that sense, Korea doesn't want to be homeless, so they keep paying through the nose, even though the very cheapest place they could find would still be killing their economy. Most developed countries can cough up a lot more cash for a lot better dwelling. Despite that, N.Koreans still want to live "in style" (with nukes, that is).

      --

      Jobs? Which jobs?
    4. Re:Uses by anichan · · Score: 1

      Remember that this is the essence of the 'songun' or Army First policy that they've created under Great Leader Kim Il Song. Whether you agree that they have nuclear weapons or not, it seems obvious that they have the capability to do it if given enough time.

      Second, I'm not sure about where you got your information from, but based on information from the Médecins Sans Frontières, they are not recieving enough aid.

      Finally, it's particularly disturbing that, even with all of the aid that the recieve, over half the population has suffered from malnutrition.

      Do they have better things they should be doing with their efforts than building up their million man army or training hackers? Sure, but why do they need to bother? It's not like those other beings in the country are people.

      --

      karma is for the weak >)

    5. Re:Uses by ktakki · · Score: 1
      Show me a country that does have a problem with that.

      Russia, especially after the fall of Communism but also immediately before. When the remnants of the Red Army were still based in the Ukraine in the early '90s, they couldn't afford to pay the local utilities and had their power shut off, only to have it restored when the Soviets reminded Ukraine Light and Power that Kalashnikovs didn't need electricity to operate.

      Hell, even the US Armed Forces, supposedly the best equipped soldiers in the world, have had their enlisted men's families living on food stamps. Sure, it's not starvation, but for the cost of one B-2, two boomers, or one sixth of a carrier group, they could be chowing down on Surf 'n' Turf every night for a decade.

      k.
      --
      "In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart." - Anne Frank
    6. Re:Uses by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      They receive plenty of aid. The aid is "misappropriated" (fancy word for stolen) by the government/military (they're pretty much the same thing) while the people are left to, literally, starve.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    7. Re:Uses by boicy · · Score: 1
      I agree with the broad outline of your point.

      However, the US seems to have no problems keeping it's military bases' lights on either when:

      Population below poverty line: 13% (2001 est.)

      (Src: CIA World Factbook

  8. Trust noone by rembem · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So the Pentagon in spewing propaganda about South Korean propaganda about North Korea. Hmm.. Who to trust?

  9. Spam Training by kavachameleon · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Hacker" Training in Korea: how to spoof other ISPs through your country's servers.

  10. Why Not? by Davak · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Even the Pentagon says North Korea's hacker academy is probably just propaganda by South Korea.


    In other news... we still have not found any weapons of mass destruction In Iraq despite our government telling us that they there.

    Even if they do have a hacker school, so what? Like we here in the states do not teach a subset of our military these skills. Hacking is cheap and easy way of causing a lot of damage. It's a smart thing for them to try.

    Davak
    1. Re:Why Not? by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Well, the fact that North Korea publically admitted having nuclear weapons might sway your opinion a bit. Eh, probably not. Leftists have a way of putting blinkers on that would put Creationists to shame.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    2. Re:Why Not? by deadsaijinx* · · Score: 1

      i was wondering whether or not we do (you sed so, so, ok). anyone have any more info on our own hacker schools?

      --
      YOU SUCK BALLS!
    3. Re:Why Not? by cperciva · · Score: 4, Interesting

      No they didn't; they admitted to having *a nuclear weapons programme*.

      They're trying to make nuclear weapons, and they have the resources necessary to do so, but they haven't yet demonstrated any success.

    4. Re:Why Not? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Leftists have a way of putting blinkers on that would put Creationists to shame

      Anybody have a troll to English dictionary on them?

      AC

    5. Re:Why Not? by RealAlaskan · · Score: 1, Informative
      ... we still have not found any weapons of mass destruction In Iraq ...

      Why would this matter, to you or to anyone else? Whether or not Hussein was able to successfully build stuff to kill us, he was still able to kill his own people, and we put a stop to that.

      Do you think that it really doesn't matter what the wogs do to each other? I think that the people there are human, and it would have been terribly inhumane to leave them to suffer from Hussein and the Baathists.

      There were three entirely adequate reasons for the US to attack Iraq:
      1) Its government appeared to be trying to build weapons which it could use against us, and would surely have used them against us if it could.
      2) Its government was surely sponsoring terrorism.
      3) Its government was murdering its citizens to stay in power.

      Points (1) and (2) might seem doubtful to you, though not (before the invasion) to anyone who didn't have contracts there. Point (3) has never been disputed, before or after, by even the most rabid Baathist or French propaganda minister.

      If we DO find some WMD there, we can all shiver a delicious shiver and say: ``Wow! that was close!'', but it won't matter. Saving the Iraqis from their own government was far more than reason enough.

      I think that the only question remaining about the invasion of Iraq is: ``Which tyrant is next?''

    6. Re:Why Not? by Davak · · Score: 1

      Wwwwwoooaaaahhhhh, everybody!

      Just because I said that does not mean that I do not feel we needed to go into Iraq.

      My point was the following:

      Regarding any topic, our government is not always knowledgeable nor honest.

      Please do not assume my political views...

      Davak

    7. Re:Why Not? by Dumbush · · Score: 1

      "which tyrant is next" the one that US put into power 30 years ago or could be 20 years ago ask the CIAs, they would have a definite answer.

    8. Re:Why Not? by bucky0 · · Score: 1

      I agree with you completely, but finding some WMD would go a long way to shut up all my liberal friends who harp on it. Although, I doubt at this point that we can find anyting considering we gave _months_ notice to Saddam about our intent to invade. By now, he's probably either destroyed it, hidden it hella good, or just given it to his buds the Syrians.

      --

      -Bucky
    9. Re:Why Not? by RealAlaskan · · Score: 1
      Sorry; the one seemed to imply the other. I jumped to a wrong conclusion.

      You're right about the point I missed:

      My point was the following:

      Regarding any topic, our government is not always knowledgeable nor honest.

      I think that it's pretty sad that with the unassailable reasons which I listed above, our government focused on the WMD, which might have been the least plausible and certainly the most tendentious. Having focused everyone's attentions there, our government shouldn't be surprised that the second guessers are focusing their criticism in the same place.

    10. Re:Why Not? by DohDamit · · Score: 1

      Yes, that is exactly how a thirteen year old would interpret the news. Move right along, Junior.

    11. Re:Why Not? by CyberKnet · · Score: 1

      While I personally find your statement true, the fact remains:

      If the USA was going in there to liberate the Iraqis from the start, then that should be the reason given from the start... not to find and destroy "weapons of mass distruction".

      The fruit should have been called a lemon all along, instead of an orange just because it is sweeter... the handling of the affair by the american government is a disgrace and an offence to its citizens and residents.

      --
      Video meliora proboque deteriora sequor - Ovidius
    12. Re:Why Not? by RealAlaskan · · Score: 1
      "which tyrant is next" the one that US put into power 30 years ago or could be 20 years ago...

      Finally, we're fixing some old mistakes. Better late than never!

      ... ask the CIAs, they would have a definite answer.

      Maybe it'll be the government of Germany. We put'em there, about 50 years ago, and it begins to look as though they've gone sour. With France as an ally, they wouldn't stand a chance.

      Seriously, I'd push for Syria, since we're on a roll in the region, but Saudi Arabia or N. Korea (notice how deftly I brought this thread back on topic!) would be good choices, too!

    13. Re:Why Not? by dogfart · · Score: 4, Interesting
      If point 3 is reason enough to invade a country, then there are at least a dozen countries in Africa alone that we should target for invasion.

      When do we start?

      Sudan - watch out! Burundi - take that! Zimbabwe - you're next!

      --

      "dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope"

    14. Re:Why Not? by DohDamit · · Score: 1

      Try doing your homework next time, dolt. The U.S. government didn't put him into power. No, we didn't sell him all or even a lot of weapons, and we sure as hell stopped mid-80's. Where oh where did his weapons come from over the last 20 years? In order of the portion of Iraq's weapons, China, France, and Russia for the most part.

    15. Re:Why Not? by charon_on_acheron · · Score: 1

      But do the Leftists use their right blinkers, or would that imply they are moving to the right? Actually, I like people that use both sets of blinkers correctly, and I try to do so as well.

    16. Re:Why Not? by el-spectre · · Score: 1

      Regarding point 1... this is NOT a 'legal' (whatever that means internationally) reason to invade. We (America) have, are, and will build offensive weapons to use on whoever we deem a significant threat.

      Would you feel as justified if someone attacked us on those grounds?

      I have zero problem with military action in the national interest (i.e. get them before they get us), but let's not get a nosebleed from that highhorse when the US is by far the most militarily dangerous country in the world.

      (as a side note, here we don't kill dissenters... we just start slowly removing their right to dissent...)

      --
      "Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.
    17. Re:Why Not? by charon_on_acheron · · Score: 1

      No, moron. Clinton committed perjury in a sworn deposition given to a court of law. Anyone can lie, but perjury is a crime. and despite some people saying it didn't matter, he lied about the the very subject he was being asked about, so of course it mattered to the case at hand. I don't care if he lied to me, I didn't believe him anyway. But if I can be arrested and convicted for perjury, so can the president, and he should have been. The impeachment was the least that should have happened.

      And the funny thing is, he should have just kept his mouth shut, and let his lawyer call the whole thing a political witch hunt, which it was. But he thought he was smarter than that. He's just another example of a stupid rutting pig with a title, thinking he can fool most people and bully the rest. In comparison, at least Bush never denied whether he had ever done drugs, he just said it's not the press's business whether he did or not. Rather than be caught in a lie, he refused to say yes or no. Maybe he learned that from watching the whole Clinton fiasco. Good for him.

    18. Re:Why Not? by RealAlaskan · · Score: 1
      Regarding point 1... this is NOT a 'legal' (whatever that means internationally) reason to invade.

      Legal means nothing between nations. Law implies a higher power, and there is no such thing (that all the nations will recognize, all the time).

      We (America) have, are, and will build offensive weapons to use on whoever we deem a significant threat.

      Yep. A reasonable person might say that the government of Iraq (and now N korea) were building WMD because we are a very real threat to them. Not because we want to attack them, but because no slave state can stand if there is a free state near by. We give hope to the masses, and make it impossible to keep them in line. Let me say that more clearly: we would have been a threat to them even if entirely disarmed.

      I think that there is a very clear moral distinction here, between our WMD and N. Korea's: it's the difference between killing an armed robber, and killing your victim during an armed robbery.

      ... we don't kill dissenters... we just start slowly removing their right to dissent...

      The US looks terrible when we compare it to the ideal. It looks ideal when we compare it to anything else.

    19. Re:Why Not? by baltimoretim · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Quotha: Do you think that it really doesn't matter what the wogs do to each other? I think that the people there are human

      Thanks for weighing in on that. I was waiting for a patriot to clear that up for me.

      Quothagain: 1) Its government appeared to be trying to build weapons which it could use against us, and would surely have used them against us if it could.

      I don't know about you, but somewhere around the 10th grade I learned about the difference between appearance and reality. If you lack recourse to the comedies of William Shakespeare (Twelfth Night, etc.), might I suggest you engage any willing transsexual in some "research." Point here is, people who commit action based on appearance rather than reality often end up feeling burned.

      I won't even address point #2 Its government was surely sponsoring terrorism , as it's "surely" a repetition of your seeming/being mistake in #1.

      As for #3: Its government was murdering its citizens to stay in power, why not check out the history of US action in Central and South America in the 20th century? I'd think your expression of sympathy for the dusky sons of Iraq should surely extend to the impoverished folk south of our great Country's borders. See Eduardo Galeano's 3-volume history Memory of Fire for details, but US governments throughout the years have demonstrated no compunction for murdering those who would challenge their power.

      It might be that all government is murder. But where would that leave us?

    20. Re:Why Not? by el-spectre · · Score: 1

      hell, LIFE looks terrible when compared to the ideal...

      That said, it is our duty as citizens of a 'free' country to keep an eye on the government. I love the relative freedom I have, but that doesn't mean I'll fall in line with the 'party line', y'know?

      Again, if the govt made the honesty assertion that 'we're attacking threats' instead of 'we're spreading democracy', etc. I'd have a lot more respect.

      When heard Rumsfeld (I think) asserting that 'we're not trying to enforce our way of life... we just want to establish democracy and leave', I almost choked.

      Is Hussein a sick bastard? Absolutely. Is it useful to have destabilized the mid-east? possibly. Did we do it out of the goodness our our collective heart? Bullshit. Then we woulda killed the fucker 10 years ago.

      --
      "Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.
    21. Re:Why Not? by CausticWindow · · Score: 1

      Legal means nothing between nations. Law implies a higher power, and there is no such thing (that all the nations will recognize, all the time).

      There is this thing called the UN. And yes, they have laws for this kind of thing. Even if nations aren't abiding them all the time, most nations have agreed to them. By your logic, there is no such thing as law at all, since all the people in a nation aren't abiding all the laws all the time. Enforcement got nothing to do with the laws themselves.

      [Lot's of jingoistic drivel cut]

      It looks ideal when we compare it to anything else.

      Maybe you should travel some, learn some, think some, before coming to such conclusions.

      --
      How small a thought it takes to fill a whole life
    22. Re:Why Not? by RealAlaskan · · Score: 1
      Maybe you should travel some, learn some, think some, before coming to such conclusions.

      I did. That's why I say that so confidently.

    23. Re:Why Not? by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 2, Informative

      Point of fact, there are some countries, France chief among them, who base their entire foreign policy on automatically opposing the United States. You can bet that these opponents would surely attempt to thwart any U.S. interventions in Africa. In addition, France in particular considers large regions of Africa within its spehre of interest, and would rabidly oppose a great increase in U.S. power anywhere near those areas.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    24. Re:Why Not? by Erwos · · Score: 1

      Here's what happened:

      The cops kicked down the door, thinking the guy inside the house was a serial killer they were looking for. No, it turns out he's not - but it also turns out he had slaughtered his 3 kids and wife.

      I think we can still call the bust a success even if we didn't catch the exact guy we were looking for.

      -Erwos

      --
      Plausible conjecture should not be misrepresented as proof positive.
    25. Re:Why Not? by Dumbush · · Score: 1

      "Finally, we're fixing some old mistakes. Better late than never! " "fixing" is not the right word, "attempting to fix" is a more suitable term. At the mean time, let's make Iraq an extension of our economy! Isn't it nice to have such a problem? Or is it really just an opportunity, instead of a problem in the first place? "Maybe it'll be the government of Germany. We put'em there, about 50 years ago, and it begins to look as though they've gone sour. With France as an ally, they wouldn't stand a chance. " And what does that have to do with C.I.A? I believe you know what I'm talking about, but just wants to trolling for the lack of excuse. Mind you, alot of dirty business deal/operations conducted by the CIA during the Cold War is terrorism.

    26. Re:Why Not? by vladkrupin · · Score: 1

      Even if they do have a hacker school, so what? Like we here in the states do not teach a subset of our military these skills. Hacking is cheap and easy way of causing a lot of damage. It's a smart thing for them to try.

      I think there is one thing to note. US feels more vulnerable than they do. I mean, while both US and Korea can train hackers, and even if a US hacker is worth 10 Korean ones, who is more vulnerable? Definitely not them.

      While there is an abundance of targets to hack in US, one can hardly even identify one to hack in Korea. I mean, are you going to hack a power plant that doesn't work anyway? On the other hand, just a couple of good hacks on US/european soil can create major havoc on wall street with all the usual consequences.

      I believe this is one of the areas where US feels threatened. US cannot be threatened by Korean arms, but very well can be by the cyber-warfare. Hence, all the FUD about them having every weapon out there, from Nukes to hackerz. It takes one stupid politician to start the FUD and the national paranoia ensues.

      --

      Jobs? Which jobs?
    27. Re:Why Not? by vladkrupin · · Score: 1

      No they didn't; they admitted to having *a nuclear weapons programme*.

      And the last time I player poker I admitted to having two Ace's! The trick is to keep a straight face when you you cards are crap.

      --

      Jobs? Which jobs?
    28. Re:Why Not? by Dumbush · · Score: 1

      why don't you listen to your own advice and educate yourself? US put Saddam in power in the sense that without US support/supply, he wouldn't have enjoy using chemical to "stablize" his country. But during the 80s, such monsterous act is acceptable, if the host country is an ally right? Well, shit. If we didn't sell Saddam a lot of weapon, I would be scare how much weapon we have. So what's your ponit?

    29. Re:Why Not? by Dumbush · · Score: 2, Insightful

      and then everybody thanks the cop, what a happy ending!

      Except not. Turns out that 20 years ago it was this cop who let loose this killer. But to make the matter worst, the cop also had a number of killing under his belt.

      But to make it even more worst, the cop is a cop because he proclaim himself as one, but almost everybody sees him as another crook. One that this one has a very big gun and a very loud mouth

    30. Re:Why Not? by tarogue · · Score: 1

      There were three entirely adequate reasons for the US to attack Iraq:
      1) Its government appeared to be trying to build weapons which it could use against us, and would surely have used them against us if it could.

      Then why didn't they?

      2) Its government was surely sponsoring terrorism.

      Hrm. Based on all the evidence I've seen there were no (zero/none) links between the Government of Iraq and any terrorist group. What information do you have that noone else has?

      3) Its government was murdering its citizens to stay in power.

      Kinda like our good friends the Saudis? What about all the "democracies" we've helped create in central and south America? Iraq had oil and was an easy target. N. Korea has nothing and would be a long, drawn-out war with lots of casualtioes on both sides. No good for the polls.

      --
      Life sucks, but death doesn't put out at all. -- Thomas J. Kopp
    31. Re:Why Not? by ffsnjb · · Score: 1

      Its not like we didn't find anything Secretary Powell pointed out in his UN speech. We found not one, but two of the tractor trailers he specified in his speech. This whole "we haven't found any WMD in Iraq" is ignorant bullshit. Teach your liberal friends how to read; its obvious that they're illiterate.

      I can't wait until my brother gets back from Iraq and can tell me all about the nasty shit they did find and the media ignores. Go USMC!

      --
      "Why do you consent to live in ignorance and fear?" - Bad Religion
    32. Re:Why Not? by tarogue · · Score: 1

      Point of fact, there are some countries, France chief among them, who base their entire foreign policy on automatically opposing the United States.

      France has been one of the United States biggest allies since, well, the Revolution.

      According to this:
      http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_eas t/28289 85.stm
      Thirteen of France's 18 vetoes have been on resolutions also vetoed by the US and UK.
      France has vetoed two resolutions alongside the UK - both on the Suez crisis in 1956.
      Only two resolutions have been vetoed by France on its own - one on 1976 on a dispute between France and the Comoros and the other on Indonesia in 1947.
      In 1946, France and the USSR vetoed a resolution on the Spanish Civil War.

      However:
      Seven of the last nine vetoes at the Security Council have been by the United States, and six of these have been of draft resolutions criticising the Israeli Government in some way.
      The most recent, in December 2002, was a draft resolution criticising the killing by Israeli forces of several United Nations employees and the destruction of the World Food Programme warehouse in the West Bank.
      In total, the US has blocked 35 draft resolutions on Israel.
      Washington first used its veto in March 1970. Along with the UK it blocked a draft resolution on what was to become Zimbabwe.
      The US has vetoed 10 resolutions criticising South Africa, eight on Namibia, seven on Nicaragua and five on Vietnam.
      It has been the lone voice in blocking a resolution 53 times.

      So ... what was your point?

      --
      Life sucks, but death doesn't put out at all. -- Thomas J. Kopp
    33. Re:Why Not? by Citizen+of+Earth · · Score: 1

      If point 3 is reason enough to invade a country, then there are at least a dozen countries in Africa alone that we should target for invasion. When do we start?

      Not soon enough.

    34. Re:Why Not? by dogfart · · Score: 1
      Sudan - Formerly British
      Burundi - Formerly Belgian
      Zimbabwe - Formerly British

      Even assuming the US cares what the French think, there are enough opressive regimes outside of the French "sphere of influence" to keep us busy in military action for the next century.

      Burma? Papua-New Guinea? Turkmenistan? (oops they were part of the "coalition of the willing", got to leave them alone for now).

      --

      "dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope"

    35. Re:Why Not? by garbs · · Score: 1

      > Papua-New Guinea

      That's our (Australian) sphere of influence.

      Oh wait, our prime minister is bum buddies with George Bush, I guess you'd be more then welcome.

    36. Re:Why Not? by mark2003 · · Score: 1

      Maybe it'll be the government of Germany. We put'em there, about 50 years ago, and it begins to look as though they've gone sour.

      Oh, the arrogance and nationalism of America - Germany did not back your war on Iraq for very good reasons as we are now finding out. The amount of vitriol aimed at Germany and France since then has been unbelievable - the way the American press and public portray them you might think that they were more responsible than the US for the humanitarian abuses in Iraq.

      Seriously, I'd push for Syria, since we're on a roll in the region,

      As for Syria? Assad was the favourite of the West until the invasion of Iraq. He has been trying to implement reform (as have the secular government in Iran) which is not helped by the ridiculous behaviour of the US administration and Rumsfeld in particular.

    37. Re:Why Not? by mark2003 · · Score: 1

      Two major problems with your post:

      Although, I doubt at this point that we can find anyting considering we gave _months_ notice to Saddam about our intent to invade

      So, unlike all military dictators in history this one destroys his most potent weapons just as he is about to be invaded? Let's think about this - he knows he will loose, he doesn't care what happens to his people (as proved many times) and he always wanted to go down in history as a great Arab hero by hurting the US. So why would he destroy his WMD? He doesn't care about retaliation by the US on his people and he could still hide whilst they nuke Baghdad. It makes no sense whatsoever.

      By now, he's probably either destroyed it, hidden it hella good, or just given it to his buds the Syrians.

      His good buds the Syrians? How do you work this one out? Assad has publicly attacked Hussein on many occasions. Admitedly both countries have a Ba'ath party, but saying they are same organisation is the same as claiming that the Democrats in the US are the same party as the Democrats in Germany.

    38. Re:Why Not? by mark2003 · · Score: 1

      And they wonder why no-one trusts the US with the current administration in power. Basically Wolfowitz suggested using the US military to prevent competition.

      How oes this fit with their current view on free trade? Oh, hang on, I remember - it means no tariffs to harm the US and no subsidies for foreign companies, but steel tariffs on imports to the US and subsidies to US airlines...

    39. Re:Why Not? by mark2003 · · Score: 1

      Since when has blatant bigotry and nationalism with no basis on fact been informative?

      Read through the history of the UN and see how many times France has opposed the US.

    40. Re:Why Not? by mark2003 · · Score: 1

      Either in your travels you made a concious effort to avoid western Europe, Australasia and much of the far East or you managed to travel and not take anything in. Either way your comment is pretty ignorant.

    41. Re:Why Not? by bucky0 · · Score: 1

      So, unlike all military dictators in history this one destroys his most potent weapons just as he is about to be invaded? Let's think about this - he knows he will loose, he doesn't care what happens to his people (as proved many times) and he always wanted to go down in history as a great Arab hero by hurting the US. So why would he destroy his WMD? He doesn't care about retaliation by the US on his people and he could still hide whilst they nuke Baghdad. It makes no sense whatsoever.

      I think it's perfectly likely that he held back for political reasons. France and other nations said that they would join us (America) if they used WMD on us. Since fighting our army is such a futile situation, he had to choose between lobbing a couple nukes and incur the wrath of the whole world, or hiding his weapons to put all kinds of egg in the American's face.

      His good buds the Syrians?

      You'r right, I think I had a bit of a brain-fart there. Although, now that I think about it, Iraqi-Syrian coperation could happen assuming that their mutual hatred for us was greater than their hatred for each other.

      --

      -Bucky
  11. I wanna go to hacker academy by L.+VeGas · · Score: 4, Funny

    I hear the parties are outrageous. And the babez? Out of control!

    1. Re:I wanna go to hacker academy by DohDamit · · Score: 1

      I saw that movie with the laser, too. It's not like that. Really.

    2. Re:I wanna go to hacker academy by vladkrupin · · Score: 1

      And the babez?

      Don't need no academy for that. I've been offered those for $10/month about 20 times since yesterday (my poor innocent INBOX).

      --

      Jobs? Which jobs?
  12. Military vs. Civilian by DaRat · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The story probably is propoganda by the South Koreans, *BUT* there is a marked difference between what the miliary gets and what civilians get. The ruling party and the military apparently get an amazingly high percentage of the resources in the country. So, while the rest of the country starves in the dark, the military eats well and probably has the lights on all the time. So, if the military wants to have a hacker school, they probably can afford to devote the resources to it. So what if a few hundred thousand peasants need to shiver in the dark!

    There was a very interesting documentary special on Cinemax last month about a visit to North Korea. Sounds like quite a surreal place.

    1. Re:Military vs. Civilian by SirWhoopass · · Score: 4, Interesting
      While North Korea does put all its emphasis on its military, this doesn't translate to eating well and having the lights on. More like not starving to death as often and having occasional electricity.

      This article tells the story of a defector who had served in the North Korean army. Their barracks didn't have electricity, so they tapped into a nearby electrified railway. They got eggs on only holidays and meat only on Kim's birthday.

      All that, of course, is a huge step above what the rest of the people have to endure. In this article a prison camp survivor talks about picking the corn out of cow dung.

    2. Re:Military vs. Civilian by 1029 · · Score: 1

      Yep, just to point out how the starving civilian masses have nothing to do with how much money/resources the country actually has at hand, I submit these points:

      The capital city of N. Korea employs traffic "maids" or whatever they are called to direct traffic... traffic which is utterly non-existent. They stand out there in the middle of intersections waiving along cars that simply are not there. The capital is also kept looking ridiculously clean and modern, even though not much actually ever happens there. The millitary (or at least the special forces) is kept as modern as possible and well-fed, while the rest of the country is starving, and anyone who speaks out against this disparity is deemed a traitor, and is locked up with one of the other millions of prisoners in the countries vast prisons (where the prisoners are worked like slaves until they die).

      The gov't also spent a boatload of money to make the tallest building in the world (at least it was, I don't know if it still is), but in the end it was so poorly made that it cannot be inhabited.

      --
      - I love animals. I try to eat at least one a day.
    3. Re:Military vs. Civilian by geekee · · Score: 1

      Yes. Something like 1/3 of N. Korea's GNP is spent on military. That's why people are starving.

      --
      Vote for Pedro
    4. Re:Military vs. Civilian by vladkrupin · · Score: 1

      Yes. Something like 1/3 of N. Korea's GNP is spent on military. That's why people are starving.

      Well, it's just like your credit card bill. You have to pay a certain percentage of your balance, OR a minimum monthly payment, whichever is more.

      It works the same way for defense budgets. While most countries fall under the 'percentage' category, Koreans don't have enough dough, so they have to cough up the 'minimum payment'. Which in their case happens to be 1/3 of their GNP. And not (only) because they are so militaristic, but mostly just because their GNP is so small. That's gotta suck...

      --

      Jobs? Which jobs?
  13. why would the infra in Korea bother a hacker ? by Archfeld · · Score: 3, Interesting

    you think they are gonna do it from a government compound ? Nah I bet they go to a net cafe in Belgium or somewhere totally unrelated. The ability and knowledge is the hard part, access can be had all over the place...

    --
    errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
    1. Re:why would the infra in Korea bother a hacker ? by clambake · · Score: 1

      Nah I bet they go to a net cafe in Belgium or somewhere totally unrelated.

      And then defect the second thier plane lands... I somehow can't see the country letting thier smartest people actually get on a plane from which they probably are never going to willingly return.

    2. Re:why would the infra in Korea bother a hacker ? by Archfeld · · Score: 1

      Can't apply 'normal' logic to fanatics...Do you think normal people strap dynamite to themselves ?
      While your point is true to human nature, I give their re-education program enough respect to figure they will produce a few that will not be swayed by logic, reality or any other rational argument. After all, it is common knowledge over there that they WON the war....Arch

      --
      errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
  14. south korea is more guilty by GoatPigSheep · · Score: 1

    South Korea has tons of "hackers" who ruin online gaming by cheating and flooding servers.

    --
    GoatPigSheep, the 3 most important food groups
  15. Pentagon not always right by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I just read "The Armed Forces of North Korea" by Joseph Bermudez and some other books and reports and I don't think it'd be proper to discount the DPRK's abilities when it comes to Special Forces and Unconventional Warfare.

    They've shown a high-level of professionalism when it comes in infiltrating the South and they did pull off the siezure of the USS Pueblo.

    Sure the country's electrical grid is dodgy, but so was Israel and Jordan's until the late 80s. The DPRK military doesn't usually have the same electricity or food supply problems that the rest of the country has.

    I'd not listen to everything the RoK says, but don't discount them as far as the Pentagon might*. The RoK is heavily infiltrated by the DPRK and I'm sure thier "cyberwar" planning would have agents in the South kick it off from that broadband rich area.

    "The KPA (Korean People's Army) is still predominantly an analog and vacuum-tube force," said Alexandre Mansourov, a professor at the Pentagon's Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies. "We tend to overestimate the level of information-technology expertise in the North Korean military, and South Korea is especially guilty of this."

    That might be true for the majority of thier systems, but the DPRK has been buying modern SAMs ECM, Navigation and other systems from the FSR and China. Some of the more elite units in thier vast special forces have at least Gen 2-3 Night Vision and GPS recievers.

    * - I've not read either link yet.

    1. Re:Pentagon not always right by AKnightCowboy · · Score: 2, Funny

      That reminds me of something I've been meaning to ask. Does North Korea possess any decent natural resources like oil or is it all rice fields? If they have oil I'd suggest we liberate those people immediately from their tyranical overlords.

    2. Re:Pentagon not always right by Froomb · · Score: 1

      Well, speaking as a long-time observer of Korea, who is non-Korean, but who lived in SK for eight years, has studied in Korean universities, and is currently teaching Korean history here in the U.S. at "a major university", most of what passes for "information" in the press on NK is totally misinformed at best and quite often FUD. Many times I just throw things at the screen in disgust.

      Next time you read or hear something about Korea, just ask yourself, "does this person speak Korean?", "Has s/he lived there?" "Know anything about the history of the place?" Most often you'll find the answer is no. Would you value the ramblings of a North Korean opining on the U.S. with the equivalent understanding of English and American civ?

      Mansourov (a Russian who's actually lived in NK) is a highly pleasant exception.

      For a view of how Korean studies experts in the U.S. feel, check out this site.

    3. Re:Pentagon not always right by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 1

      They have a nice supply of Uranium and Coal as well as rivers for hydro.

      What is really interesting is how developed the North was after WW2 and even after the UN bombing campaign from 50-53 compared to the South at the same time and how striking the differrence is today.

  16. that's true. by twitter · · Score: 2, Informative
    People from South Korea have told me about all sorts of nutty things the Commies do. They send commandos into South Korea to plant weapons and explosives. You hear about it every now and then where a group gets caught, but the "objective" western media miss many damning details. North Korea gets up to this kind of stuff despite their own people not having enough to eat.

    It may be just for "propaganda". Propaganda is very important to them. Blocking legitimate communications, astroturfing and sabotage are not just popular in Redmond.

    --

    Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.

    1. Re:that's true. by FunkSoulBrother · · Score: 3, Insightful

      yes, because South Koreans are the first and best impartial group to ask when you want to know whether North Korea is being good and evil.

      Why that would be like asking the United States if there were WMD in Iraq.

      Do you think Eritrea and Ethiopia joined the "coaltion of the willing" because they believed the US and felt a moral obligation to stop Saddam, or do you think maybe they just both wanted the US on their side in a border dispute, and couldn't give a shit whether the US was telling the truth about Iraq.

      The point of all of this is when there is a dispute, its best to hear the account of imparital bystander than that of the people involved in the dispute.

    2. Re:that's true. by WolfWithoutAClause · · Score: 1
      Why that would be like asking the United States if there were WMD in Iraq.

      A better analogy would be to ask Britain's Tony Blair, because he told the house of parliament that there very definitely was WMDs there. At the moment it is looking like he lied. If proven, he may be for the high jump.

      --

      -WolfWithoutAClause

      "Gravity is only a theory, not a fact!"
  17. N Korea by L7_ · · Score: 3, Funny

    All they have to do is hack into the Lineage servers and watch as 75% of South Korean males between the ages of 15 and 40 go into the fetal position from going 'cold turkey'.

    *.*

  18. not the first time... by burns210 · · Score: 1

    So what if they can barely keep the power grid up or have starving people.... The Soviets faught the Cold War and they had people starving too.

    Let us not forget that North Korea has also had enough time and money to make atomic bombs... that is quite a few food stamps spent on R&D.

    1. Re:not the first time... by Opie812 · · Score: 1

      From the Soviet side, much of the cold war was smoke and mirrors...they made themselves look more dangerous than they actually were. As for the Americans, they were happy to let the public believe the Soviets were a serious threat...the bigger the threat the more money for the defence industry. The "missile gap" was largely imaginary.

      --
      I'm not a nerd. Nerds are smart.
    2. Re:not the first time... by burns210 · · Score: 1
      " From the Soviet side, much of the cold war was smoke and mirrors...they made themselves look more dangerous than they actually were. As for the Americans, they were happy to let the public believe the Soviets were a serious threat...the bigger the threat the more money for the defence industry. The "missile gap" was largely imaginary."

      ok, so the Soviets could only destroy the world 2 times over, while we could destroy the world 7 or 8 times over... either way, the world is destroyed, and everyone is dead....

  19. Re:Training by Skyshadow · · Score: 3, Insightful
    But hacking? You can't hack into something with just training...

    So you're saying it's tougher to be a script kiddie than it is to, say, fly a commercial airliner?

    You can teach anybody just about anything, and given a large enough population of people you can even find those who are naturally good at certain things to begin with. Or maybe you don't think that smart people would ever be opposed to America and its allies?

    --
    Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
  20. Maybe cooperation with China or Russia by George+Walker+Bush · · Score: 1
    While North Korea may not have the infrastructure available, they are quite close allies with China or Russia (their only real allie in this world), two countrie that are quite advanced in its own domestic IT industry, and expertise. It wouldn't surprise me if either or both those countries were advising North Korea on info-war issues.

    We should not misunderestimate them. Thank you and God bless America.

    --
    George W. Bush
    President, United States of America
  21. This does not shock me by coupland · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't think any other problems North Korea may have has any bearing on whether or not they have high-tech hacking schools. I work for a large multinational and am repsonsible for IT in all areas outside US and Europe and the bushmen with bamboo computers and blow-guns myth is precisely that. Goddam Nigeria buys Pentium 4's, you think North Korea still uses vacuum tubes as the article laughingly asserts? Hell, India is considered one of the most technologically advanced nations in the world, have nuclear weapons and a space programme, but have barely 50% literacy. North Korea builds 8-lane highways that go virtually unused for future growth, don't think they don't have the resources and bright minds to throw at a military problem they think is pressing. I'm not saying the school is real, I really wouldn't know, but don't subscribe to the myth that everyone else in the world is using Lite-Brite instead of notebooks...

  22. Re:Loyalty by JJahn · · Score: 1

    The North Koreans don't have trouble motivating people. It could be as simple as threatening a family member with a painful torture and death. That usually motivates people pretty well.

  23. Do as I say... by Kunta+Kinte · · Score: 2, Interesting
    ... and not as I do.

    Seems to me this is very similar to the nuclear situation with north korea. At the same time the pentagon is pressing for new research in nuclear weopons they're pressing Iran and North Korea to cease they efforts.

    --
    Based on upvotes, Ageism is the only "-ism" Slashdotters care about and think isn't SJW
  24. Explain that to the Kurds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    And if North Korea doesn't have nukes, they damn well shouldn't be trying to give the impression that they do given their history of murdering South Korean politicians and kidnapping Japanese kids to go along with their "starve the masses" food distribution system.

    1. Re:Explain that to the Kurds by CowboyBob500 · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      All I'm saying is that you can't believe everything you see and hear, including what you've just said.

      I'm not going to get all political about this, and I'm not going to say one viewpoint is right and one is wrong. What I can say is that I've been involved in some things that have made national news in the UK and the way the footage was cut on the BBC (yes, the supposedly neutral BBC), gave a completely different impression to what actually happened. And this "editing" was no accident either. Events were shown deliberately in the wrong sequence.

      And as for the gassing of the Kurds, you do realise that some historians doubt the official account and attribute the atrocity to the Iranians? Here's an example article. Again, I'm not saying which I believe, just that what you're told through the news media is always a distortion to portray the editor's/company's political agenda.

      Bob

  25. I can see it now... by phorm · · Score: 1

    In a game...
    Koreandude: Hehehe... head-shot
    AmericanPl8r: Dude, you haxor, cheater!
    KoreanDude: You calling me a cheater?
    AmericanPl8r: Yeah. You suck. Cheating hacker.
    KoreanDude: You want to see sum real hackin?
    AmericanPl8r: ?? Brb, I smell something bur..[NO CARRIER]

    Yeah... as if we aren't seeing enough overseas hacking in games, etc as it is... now they're being trained for more serious stuff? Luckily, Canada is already producing a counterforce

  26. Look out... by joeszilagyi · · Score: 1
    ...once they launch a cyberattack and we complain about it, they'll respond with threats to nuke everything from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Remember:

    King Jong II is completely insane.

    --
    Dude, where's my packet?
  27. Real Purpose by Davak · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The true purpose of such a North Korea group might actually be to train their gurus with the latest and greatest information... ...to keep tabs on their own people!

    While it may be difficult to get into large systems here in the United States and do a lot of damage, it it much easier to install backdoors and logging programs.

    One large threat to the North Korean government is its own people. Knowing what these people are reading and saying online is a great step in repressing rebellion.

    Davak

    1. Re:Real Purpose by stew-a-cide · · Score: 1

      They don't have the internet in North Korea. They don't even have a TLD as far as I know.

      Their "news" service is registered in Japan: http://www.kcna.co.jp

      Their homepage (which was completely insane - I hope somebody has a backup) used to be at http://www.korea-dpr.com

      And their "trade" website is at http://www.dprkorea-trade.com - like their former homepage it's more-or-less them selling nicknacks for foreign currency.

    2. Re:Real Purpose by vladkrupin · · Score: 1

      While it may be difficult to get into large systems here in the United States and do a lot of damage, it it much easier to install backdoors and logging programs.


      All I have to say is You are so funny!!! Most of the damage (in terms of $$$ lost by various companies) is done by 15-year-old 13313 h4x0rz who fail their SATs, while more serious hackers (like Kevin Mitnick) cause virtually no monetary damage whatsoever. Do you really think N.Korea can't acheive the intelligence level of a 13313 h4z0r?

      I do agree with you that they could very well use that knowlege to also spy on their own people. Though I doubt they have the people to spy on. After all, with all the electrical problems, I tend to think that they do not have have much of internet to spy on at all.

      --

      Jobs? Which jobs?
    3. Re:Real Purpose by ktakki · · Score: 1
      Their homepage (which was completely insane - I hope somebody has a backup) used to be at http://www.korea-dpr.com

      Set the Wayback Machine.

      (For an overview go here: http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.korea-dpr. com.

      Comedy GOLD!

      k.
      --
      "In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart." - Anne Frank
  28. War on Morons by Malicious · · Score: 1

    So they start a cyber war.
    Viruses/Worms run Rampant on Windows machines.
    Win2k Server becomes an easy target
    Microsoft Stock plummets.
    The Geeks inherit the earth.

    --
    01101001001000000110000101101101001000000110001001 10000101110100011011010110000101101110
  29. Quoted from... by Gheesh · · Score: 2, Informative

    This User Friendly strip :-)

  30. Someone had to say it by rock_climbing_guy · · Score: 1

    S Korea captain: We get signal - main screen turn on!

    N Korea : Hello, how are you gentlemen. All your base are belong to us.

    -What you say?

    -You have no chance to survive, make your time... ha ha ha

    --
    Wh47 d1d j00 541, 31337 15n't t3h r0xor5 ne m0r3???
    1. Re:Someone had to say it by Bull999999 · · Score: 1

      http://www.allyourbase.net

      --
      1f u c4n r34d th1s u r34lly n33d t0 g37 l41d
    2. Re:Someone had to say it by Davak · · Score: 1

      Faq on the Game

      The links in the FAQ however now point to p0rn.

      Here's the famous shockwave and song.

      Davak

  31. Re:What I want to know by mkarpinski · · Score: 1

    Linger or Longer?

    Linger longer?

    --
    As below, so above and beyond, I imagine drawn beyond the lines of reason. Push the envelope. Watch it bend.
  32. sample run by MerryGoByeBye · · Score: 1

    nmap -sS www.anything.kp

    Starting nmap V. 3.00 ( www.insecure.org/nmap/ )
    Failed to resolve given hostname/IP: www.anything.kp. Note that you can't use '/mask' AND '[1-4,7,100-]' style IP ranges
    WARNING: No targets were found in the entire country, so 0 hosts scanned.
    Nmap run completed -- 0 IP addresses in domain ".kp" (0 hosts up) scanned in 16 seconds

    Yawn.

  33. Re:Training by kaltkalt · · Score: 1

    "study hard and learn to hack, you'll go to heaven"

    same thing.

    --

    Stupid people make stupid things profitable.
  34. North Korean developers are better? by Johnboi+Waltune · · Score: 2, Funny

    The DPRK has software development expertise that is "competent, if not world class," according to Hayes.

    Sure, but they probably shoot the developers in the head execution-style if they don't turn out a certain number of lines of code per hour. I'd say that's an incentive to perform. No North Korean coders wasting time on Slashdot, that's for sure.

    --
    "The advanced societies of the future will be driven by competing systems of psychopathology." -JG Ballard
  35. and... by djupedal · · Score: 1

    With Indian and Russian programmers now a commodity (no longer a low cost standard), North Korea will be the next source of discounted talent. If you are familiar with Russian style programmers, you will see the same in the North Koreans.

    There are only two countries currently positioned to take advantage of this new low cost resource... South Korea and China.

    The cheabols (large domestic corporations) in South Korea have been positioned to take advantage of the resources in the North for at least the last three years. Very few people outside the peninsula know what is really going on here in terms of technology, etc.

    Training...yes. Hackers? Depends on whom you talk to and how you phrase the question...just like anything else.

  36. It's True!!! by Eberlin · · Score: 1

    It's true, I tell you -- I've experienced this first-hand. I was playing Diablo II online and sure enough, these people started logging in and slowing down the entire bnet server thing.

    When a game that promotes capitalism at its finest (lidless for an 2 SOJ) gets hindered by a "cyber-attac", the terrorists win!

  37. Just 1 question? by Goalie_Ca · · Score: 1

    How competant do you think these guys will be? In a country like that an expert would be someone who knows what a lan is.
    A good degree from a competant comp-sci school and you could probably do a lot more damage.

    --

    ----
    Go canucks, habs, and sens!
  38. MOD PARENT UP by boomgopher · · Score: 1

    This message is not flamebait, you retards.

    --
    Your hybrid is not saving the environment. Its purpose is to make you feel good about buying something.
    1. Re:MOD PARENT UP by rock_climbing_guy · · Score: 1

      agreed - where are mod points when you need them?

      --
      Wh47 d1d j00 541, 31337 15n't t3h r0xor5 ne m0r3???
    2. Re:MOD PARENT UP by heff · · Score: 1

      agreed, but he's still full of shit.

      and this isnt flamebait either.

      --

      --

      |-_-| . o O ( bEef!)

  39. You don't understand...look at the evidence! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    1) Electricity shortage
    2) Little available food

    Obviously, they [North Korea] is training its entire populous to live like geeks [top ramen noodle rations] and use the ultra-low power Via C3 platform. Why can't you see this, beallj? Their power grid is pressed to the limits because North Korea bounced a check to purchase a shit load of computers and is now in the process training everyone to fight the Matrix^H^H^H^H^H^H United States corporation. If they were using Athlon or Pentium4, they wouldn't have enough power! Duh!

    1. Re:You don't understand...look at the evidence! by Christ0ph · · Score: 2, Interesting

      North Korea is trying to teach some level of computer skills to its elite students. But for most North Koreans college is out of reach.. getting in depends on your having what Chinese would call 'good family background'

      Read this explanation from the South Korean NIS:
      http://www.koreascope.org/newdocs/etext/sub/ 2/1/nk 4_3.htm

      - Ideological Surveillance, and the Classification of the People

      In order to facilitate its dictatorial system, the North Korean Workers' Party conducted full-scale ideological investigations on every individual citizen in North Korea twice under the name of the so-called "intensive guidance project" (1958-1960) and the "citizens re-registration project" (1966-1967). Based on the results of these investigations, the North Korean ruling hierarchy in February 1971 completed the work of classifying the entire populace into 3 main groups, and then again into 51 sub-groups.

      The classification is as follows:
      The Classification
      Main Groups

      Sub-Groups

      Treatment

      The Core Group

      (28%)

      (12 sub-groups) Party cadre official,bereaved familiesof partisans, war heroes and their family members, etc.

      0 Qualification for becoming cadres in the Party,Gov't and the military.

      0 Better treatment in receiving the ration of food and daily necessities

      The Instable Group

      (45%)

      (18 sub-groups) General populace

      0 Qualification for becoming low-ranking Officials

      0 A chance to be reclassified into the core group



      The Hostile Group

      (27%)

      (21 sub-groups) Former religious believers, landlords and government officials during Japanese colonial rule, families of those who defectedto the Republic of Korea, ideological criminals and their family members.

      0 Forced labor in remote places
      0 No qualification for becoming Party members

      0 No chance to enter colleges

      0 A chance for only children to bereclassified into the instable group

      0 Being placed under constant watch

  40. As South-Korean /.'er. by dance2die · · Score: 1

    As South-Korean /.'er, i think North Koreans are not going to be able to teach them cyber soldiers well. It's barely even hard for them to keep their waters or electricities running for gov't facilities... Cyberarmies won't do much good for them though since you know, there should be a lot of freedom cyber armies in the whole world who will be more than willing to help to keep this cyber world in order.

    --
    buffering...
  41. Re:Training by yintercept · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Practicing on slower, clunkier equipment lets you concentrate on fundamentals that people with more sophosticated computers might have ignored.

    The goal of such hackers isn't to create kewl programs, but to find clever tricks that waste the resources of others; so working at the fundamental machine level might give you an in. Sometimes having obstacles to overcome helps you acheive your goal. My experience is that people who learned to code on slower machines write tighter, more efficient code.

    Of course, most of the security holes the hackers discover have probably been patched, but the fact that you have older equipment doesn't necessarily mean your training is worse.

  42. Actually, North Korea has that and more... by Infonaut · · Score: 2, Funny
    It's all thoroughly explained in this docu-drama, starring current affairs expert Pierce Brosnan.

    --
    Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
  43. North Korea has advanced tech weapons... by The+Lynxpro · · Score: 1

    ...I know because I learned all I need to about that country from the last Bond flick *Die Another Day.* If you watch the movie, you'll even discover how Michael Jackson became white...

    --
    "Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
  44. Who will win in a fight? by teamhasnoi · · Score: 1
    North Korea or Canada? I would highly surprised if every country with an Apple II didn't have some kind of 'school' going..

    Of course, I use BeOS, so I am immune from all attacks except the dreaded, "Lack of Developers" attack. *Shiver*

  45. Re:"haven't yet demonstrated any success" by Dumbush · · Score: 1

    well, since a certain group of people are willing to let Bush demonstrate his success... it's a free world

  46. Command and Conquer: Generals by SimplyCosmic · · Score: 1

    It's kind of sadly humorous how topical the RTS game C&C:Generals is, with the US fighting a vague arabic terrorist organization with chemical weapons and the Chinese forces which use hackers extensively as electronic warfare as well as money source from stolen bank accounts.

    If there isn't a mod out there to change the Chinese over to the North Koreans, there should be.

  47. You want to learn about hacking (from Koreans)? by vchoy · · Score: 1

    Try Mr. Lee Jeong-Nam's HackersLab site: learn to hack zone

    I tell you I've learnt so much about (*nix) security from this it's not funny.
    (The site is so comprensive it also support other language options: Korean, Chinese and Japanese)

    ps: See you on level 17 and on the "Hall of Fame"

  48. asymetrical warfare by Britz · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The most likely foe for North Korea in any military conflict would be South Korea and its ally, the USA. Since South Korea's economy relies heavily on their IT infrastructure it is more than logical to have a credible threat at hand.

    It is also far more difficult to wage war against the US, since North Korea's fleet wouldn't stand a chance against Aircraft carriers. So they would not be able to reach the American coast with enough forces to conquer the territory of the US. Considering the overwhelming force of the US military the only viable solution for the North Koreans in this asymetrical combat situation is to resort to tatics formerly only used by so called terrorists, like the Unabomber, the guy from Florida that sent the Antrax letters or the entity formerly supported by the CIA (during the 80's in Afghanistan) now known as Al Quaida, that managed a direct attack on the pentagon.

    Modern civilisations have modern vurnerabilities. Our modern societies result in a lot of highly trained scientists that can research very much and very fast. Our infrasructure allows for a lot of production. This and other things allow for our overwhelming military might.

    Even though it might be possible for rogue nations to infiltrate our societies with "undercover soldiers" or special forces ready to use our modern infrastructure against us in the event of war against their country I doubt if this to be possible on a large scale.

    The nations that come into question here don't trust their citizen. The greatest strength modern societies have is loyalty and wealth (connected, no doubt about it). The dollar (combined with military might) proved to be the most potent weapon against resitence in Afghanistan and Iraq. In both countries the lower leaders were just bought out. The few that didn't accept the money were bombed. That showed the rest the way to go.

    Anyways. Using hackers the rogue nations can attack and still control their soldiers, since they physically stay were they are. Let's wait and see what online pr0n does to them ;-)

    1. Re:asymetrical warfare by Tycho · · Score: 1

      North Korea has warheads with chemical weapons that can be put on artillery that can reach Seoul and missles that can reach Japan. North Korea has all of these in abundance. If war breaks out North Korea could turn South Korea into one huge toxic waste dump. Casualty estimates for an attack like this have been put in the range of millions. After that though, the war would be all asymmetrical, at least until China joins the war on the side of the North Korea. At which point we would have World War III. War with North Korea should scare the hell out of you. Aside from that though the rest of your post is just wrong.

      --
      Impersonating Tycho from Penny Arcade since before there was a PA.
    2. Re:asymetrical warfare by Britz · · Score: 1

      You are right about the casutlies on the Korean peninsula. I made the fault of taking the knowledge about this fact for granted. But I should never overestimate the intellectual capacity of my readers I guess.

      Also since I posted to a board predomenantly read by Americans I used an American point of view and assumed this to be clear. Any war against the US would be asymetrical (even China doesn't have second strike capability yet), because the US govt. will spend 50% of what the world will spend on their military next year (45% this year not counting the war against Iraq).

      This is one of the reasons why a paper by two PLA officers consering asymetrical warfare last year was noted with so much interest by the worlds security community.

      If anyone thinks that China would ever join North Korea in a war with the US clearly has no idea about international politics. Also since I don't live anywhere near that region (I might go a year to Bejing to study, but that is another case) why should I be scared about a war with North Korea??? China is only interested in keeping North Korea somewhat stable, because a collapse would destabilize a part of their own country due to refugees. The party would also reject the idea of digging up the past, since that would surely happen in the aftermath of a North Korean collapse. The US is helping were it can. Threatenting (or engaging) a country with military force has almost always stabilized a regime, because people tend to stick together in the even of danger from the outside. Simple, but true!

      Apart from all that in the end You state that my post is just wrong. I view this as a purly emotional statement, since nothing in Your post contradicts anything in mine.

      Coming back to Your post: I doubt that North Korea has many missiles that could reach Japan. They could only make an impact if they were armed with nuclear warheads, of which North Korea may not have more than two which were never tested and may not even work. And I don't see why chemical weapons would be the primary weapon to attack South Korea. The only thing that works in North Korea is their military. They would surly first try to conquer the South and only resort to the chemical option if that fails.

      Apart from that: Who doesn't have chemical weapons by now??? There was an article in Newsweek a while ago about the problem the US has with the huge stockpile of chemical shell rotting away in large stashes. This year their editor in chief has a column stating: "The US doesn't have chemical weapons."
      Go figure.

  49. Re:Training by kaltkalt · · Score: 1

    how is his comment racist? You seem to be the one who has it drilled into your brain that all suicide bombers are muslim/arab. He didn't say anything that implied that.

    And suicide bombers of today are muslim/arab. All of them (or a majority substantial enough to be significant). Deal with it. They tend to have dark skin, believe in allah and live in poor, theocratic countries located in the middle east. Nothing racist about pointing out the obvious, even if you'd rather not hear it. Oh my god, did I say they have dark skin? Yep. So does michael jordan. Now, if I said those people were inferior for the sole reason that their skin is dark, then it would be a racist statement. To say they are inferior because they keep blowing shit up... that's not racist, it's a moral judgment of their actions. (we'll get to the "they" part in a minute)

    Here are some more non-racist truisms:
    Mexicans eat tacos. Asians like rice. There are lots of jews in hollywood. Black people come from africa, and they're better athletes than white people. There are more blacks in prison than in college. Islam is now, and has been historically, a violent religion. More southerners are KKK members than are northerners.

    Deal with it, and don't toss around the "r" word everytime you hear something that rubs your "PC" clit the wrong way. Muslims aren't even a "race," anyway, and Arab is technically a person from a region, not a race either.
    We all (should) have equal rights and opportunities, but we're not all equal (in the equivalence sense of the word). Accept it and love it, and don't whine whenever it's pointed out to you. If your hair is a different color than mine, you and I are not equal. Yay.

    Now, repeat after me: Muslims are prone to suicide bombings. Do you watch the news? There's an average of 2-3 a day. I'll bet you $1,000 that the next person to suicide-bomb inside israel (or hell, anywhere inside the middle east) will be a muslim. Bet you the same amount the next person/people to suicide attack america will be muslim(s). Or do you think there is an equal chance the next 9/11 will be caused by atheists and/or zoroastrians? Get real.

    --

    Stupid people make stupid things profitable.
  50. The immorality of Open Source by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Having read the article thoroughly, this startling news shows the flaws in the brewing Open Source Zeitgeist that is gripping the software community. Have you considered that providing software for free to countries such as China is essentially tacit support for oppressive regimes?

    Far-fetched? Think about it: With MySQL, the People's Army will now be able to do multiple queries on their tables of democratic activists in Olog(n) time instead of lengthy searches in card catalogs. The bureaucratic overhead previously allowed activists enough time to flee the country. How about building cheap firewalls so the people can't get the unbiased reporting that CNN provides? Or using Apache to publish lists of Falun Gong people to their police forces instantly? I doubt that never crossed your minds when you were coding away in your parents' basements. Consider putting that little thought in your mental resolv.conf file.

    If that does not concern you ( which it probably doesn't, since the lashout.org paradigm is publishing articles about how not to pay for things ), consider something else. When China eventually goes to war with Taiwan, we want to be able turn their command and control facilities into the computing equivalent of a train-wreck. One of the advantages of Windows never mentioned in the article is the ability of Microsoft to remotely deactivate Windows XP in the case of a national emergency. Thanks to GNU/Lunix, Taiwan will be on a collision course with the mainland in the near future.

    Which throws into question Mr. Stallman's motives. A known proponent of socialism, the Chinese government and RMS are natural allies. Could it be a back door to Stallman's dream of an über-Socialist United States? We may never know for sure. Next time you consider contributing to an open source project, ask yourself this question: don't you want to make sure your work isn't used for nefarious purposes? Will you risk having blood on your hands?

    1. Re:The immorality of Open Source by Karn · · Score: 1

      We may never know for sure. Next time you consider contributing to an open source project, ask yourself this question: don't you want to make sure your work isn't used for nefarious purposes? Will you risk having blood on your hands?

      Proprietary software is quite common in China. In fact, they have the best deals on Windows XP CDs (like $1.00 or so)

      I guess anyone who makes a piece of software is a terrorist, since softare is easily copied. Quick, call Tom Ridge and tell him Terrorists and Communists are using pirated Microsoft products!

      --


      Why do I keep typing pythong?
    2. Re:The immorality of Open Source by RoadkillBunny · · Score: 1

      One of the advantages of Windows never mentioned in the article is the ability of Microsoft to remotely deactivate Windows XP in the case of a national emergency. Can you confirm that?

      --
      Cheers,
      RoadkillBunny
    3. Re:The immorality of Open Source by shaitand · · Score: 1

      Why should I be concerned with what China and Taiwan do? Exactly when did either become the US? Or better yet, when did either become ME? If Taiwan is crushed this means what? Closed borders and manufacturing slack taken up in the US? Creating jobs and strengthening the economy?

      Why exactly is that I should actually be in favor of supporting democracy over another system of government... I certainly haven't seen any evidence that our government is less corrupt than any other, actually all I've seen is that ours lies to the people a bit more to keep up the chirade.

      If I design a new garden trowl, and some crazy woman kills her husband with it, do I then have blood on my hands??? Software is a tool, how that tool is used is the responsibility of the end user, not the one who designed it.

  51. Propaganda, by who? by incom · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Even the Pentagon says North Korea's hacker academy is probably just propaganda by South Korea It could also be propaganda by the pentagon in trying to portray NK as not a threat to a jumpy American populous.

    --
    True genius is grasping a situation like a peice of fruit, and peircing it just right so that it drains dry.
  52. Ignore the man behind the curtains by Black+Copter+Control · · Score: 1
    From the second article:
    And some U.S. defense experts accuse South Korea of hyping the cyber threat posed by its northern neighbor, which they claim is incapable of seriously disrupting the U.S. military.

    Excuse me?? We're talking warships running (or not) on NT.
    That's like me trying to convince you that you can't outrun my Hyundai because I've got a turbo-charger in it.

    --
    OS Software is like love: The best way to make it grow is to give it away.
  53. Re:Training by anubi · · Score: 1
    "So you're saying it's tougher to be a script kiddie than it is to, say, fly a commercial airliner?"
    I would say its a lot tougher and requires a helluva lot more knowledge and study to penetrate a system than it does to fly a jet airliner... but landing one is a whole different story.

    --
    "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]

  54. North Korea - a picture is worth a thousand words by Alsee · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Not only does North Korea have trouble keeping their power grid up, they barely even have a power grid.

    They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I think this picture says more about North Korea than any article ever could. It's a Nasa compsite image of the Earth At Night. It shows man-made light levels. It beautifully visualizes a combination of population density and "development".

    For anyone weak in geography, look at the top and all the way to the right. The bright snake shape is Japan. Go to the bottom-left of the snake and look up-left a smidgen. That bright squarish area is South Korea. It looks like South Korea is an island floating in the sea, but it isn't. North Korea is directly above South Korea. North Korea is a big black hole. If you look carefully you can see a single white dot directly above the top left corner of South Korea. That dot is the capital of North Korea.

    That black hole of a country has the world's THIRD LARGEST ARMY and they want to build NUKES. They are diverting their entire economy (what little there is of it) to supporting that army and building weapons. The North Korean government is incredibly isolationist and paranoid. They claim various international organizations are "conspiring" against them. They make no secret of the fact that they want/plan to "liberate" South Korea.

    North Korea is like some homeless guy who doesn't have any shoes or food because he spends all his money hoarding knives and bullets. His brother happily lives in a nice house with his wife and kids, and this guy wants to invade that house on a "liberation mission". To top it off, this guy actually has a nuclear reactor to build a nukes with.

    Anyway, another facinating thing to look for on the map is the Nile River. It on the top right of Africa. It's a very thin bright line with a kink in it. Each bank of the river is densely populated and well developed, but beyond that it is pitch black and empty.

    -

    --
    - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  55. Re:Real Purpose a voice in the wilderness by ratfynk · · Score: 1

    Although I completely agree with your statement;

    " The true purpose of such a North Korea group might actually be to train their gurus with the latest and greatest information... ...to keep tabs on their own people!"

    Richard Stollman is right about software. FROM my comments about the SCO thing;

    "Just a parting thought about the whole sco vs the world thing.

    The reason why Microsoft bought a Unix license is not the fact that ifconfig, etc etc sounds terribly close to ipconfig etc, etc, etc ad infinitum?

    If this is the case then we all might need to bow our heads to Redmond and keep our collective mouths shut for eternity!

    Richard Stallman is only a voice in the Gnu wilderness, but he is right.

    Giving the exclusive rights to digital communication technology to one small consortium is as bad as the Spanish Inquisition of all printed material by a Gutenberg press. Then trying to enforce an exclusive control of all printed and sold documents for ever! Just look how that ruined the beauty and glory of Renaissance Spain! The monopoly cannot be allowed to happen, or we are headed for an era that will make Orwells 1984 look like a Baptist Church picnic during a rainstorm."

    The scary thing is that we are not as far away from a corporate run police state ourselves, if things are allowed to get out of hand!

    the rat is well regarded in Japan it is the sign of a good harvest.

    --
    OH THE SHAME I fell off the wagon and use sigs again!
  56. not the only place to learn by Cruel+Angel · · Score: 1

    University of Calgary is planning on teaching folk how to write virii, but I don't think for quite the same purpose.

    --
    Two Rules For Success:
    1) Never tell people everything you know.
  57. Re:So what? by interstellar_donkey · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yet, the United States Army has plenty of money to spend on Nuclear Weapons and other kinds of weapons of mass destructions. Plus, the US is the only country that regularly uses these kind of weapons against defenseless countries.


    Huh? Perhaps I'm compleatly off base here, but when has the US used Nuclear weapons against defensless countries on a regular basis? We've used them twice, against a country we were at war with, over 50 years ago. I would hardly consider that 'regular' useage, and I would hardly consider WWII era Japan 'defenceless'.

    And I'd be curious to know when we've used other weapons of mass distruction. Nerve agents in vietnam? I suppose you could argue that that exercise 30 years ago a deployment of WOMD... but it'd be a stretch. Regular? Hardly.

    . . . the US is the only country . . . against defenseless countries.

    So when all those third world nations used (and continue to use) WOMD against other nations and their own people, they somehow don't count?

    Their president is an idiot and a warmonger.

    Oh. Now I understand. Because you don't like the president, it's ok to make up things about America. Makes perfect sense.

    There are lots of good, sound reasons to criticise Bush and America's forigen policy. Telling bold face lies is not one of them.

    --
    The Internet is generally stupid
  58. -1 Off topic by CGP314 · · Score: 1

    Donald Rumsfeld creeps me out. I mean, look at the guy.

  59. Or... by CrazyJim0 · · Score: 1

    Maybe their cybersoliders keep hacking the power grid.

  60. It matters that GWB lied about it by Gorimek · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Why would this matter, to you or to anyone else?

    Because GWB and his hawks claimed that they knew Iraq had WMD, and led their nation to war on that ground. It seems clear that was a lie.

    This wasn't any little white lie either, tens of thousands of people were killed as a result of it.

    1. Re:It matters that GWB lied about it by HeghmoH · · Score: 2, Funny

      To quote someone else whose name I've long since forgotten:

      I would have thought it was obvious Bush was lying when he was talking about WMD's, seeing as how he's a politician and his lips were moving and all.

      --
      Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
    2. Re:It matters that GWB lied about it by superyooser · · Score: 1
      Pop Quiz: Read the following (abridged) speech, and answer the question below.

      ...

      But for all our promise, all our opportunity, people in this room know very well that this is not a time free from peril, especially as a result of reckless acts of outlaw nations and an unholy axis of terrorists, drug traffickers and organized international criminals.
      ...
      And they will be all the more lethal if we allow them to build arsenals of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and the missiles to deliver them. We simply cannot allow that to happen.

      There is no more clear example of this threat than Saddam Hussein's Iraq. His regime threatens the safety of his people, the stability of his region and the security of all the rest of us.

      I want the American people to understand first the past how did this crisis come about?
      ...
      Remember, as a condition of the cease-fire after the Gulf War, the United Nations demanded not the United States the United Nations demanded, and Saddam Hussein agreed to declare within 15 days this is way back in 1991 within 15 days his nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and the missiles to deliver them, to make a total declaration. That's what he promised to do.

      The United Nations set up a special commission of highly trained international experts called UNSCOM, to make sure that Iraq made good on that commitment. We had every good reason to insist that Iraq disarm. Saddam had built up a terrible arsenal, and he had used it not once, but many times, in a decade-long war with Iran, he used chemical weapons, against combatants, against civilians, against a foreign adversary, and even against his own people.

      And during the Gulf War, Saddam launched Scuds against Saudi Arabia, Israel and Bahrain.
      ...
      Iraq repeatedly made false declarations about the weapons that it had left in its possession after the Gulf War. When UNSCOM would then uncover evidence that gave lie to those declarations, Iraq would simply amend the reports.

      For example, Iraq revised its nuclear declarations four times within just 14 months and it has submitted six different biological warfare declarations, each of which has been rejected by UNSCOM.

      In 1995, Hussein Kamal, Saddam's son-in-law, and the chief organizer of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program, defected to Jordan. He revealed that Iraq was continuing to conceal weapons and missiles and the capacity to build many more.

      Then and only then did Iraq admit to developing numbers of weapons in significant quantities and weapon stocks. Previously, it had vehemently denied the very thing it just simply admitted once Saddam Hussein's son-in-law defected to Jordan and told the truth. Now listen to this, what did it admit?

      It admitted, among other things, an offensive biological warfare capability notably 5,000 gallons of botulinum, which causes botulism; 2,000 gallons of anthrax; 25 biological-filled Scud warheads; and 157 aerial bombs.

      And I might say UNSCOM inspectors believe that Iraq has actually greatly understated its production.

      As if we needed further confirmation, you all know what happened to his son-in-law when he made the untimely decision to go back to Iraq. [He was murdered.]

      Next, throughout this entire process, Iraqi agents have undermined and undercut UNSCOM. They've harassed the inspectors, lied to them, disabled monitoring cameras, literally spirited evidence out of the back doors of suspect facilities as inspectors walked through the front door. And our people were there observing it and had the pictures to prove it.

      Despite Iraq's deceptions, UNSCOM has nevertheless done a remarkable job. Its inspectors the eyes and ears of the civilized world have uncovered and destroyed more weapons of mass destruction capacity than was destroyed during the Gulf War.

      This includes nearly 40,000 chemical weapons, more than 100,000 gallons of chemical weapons agents, 48 o

    3. Re:It matters that GWB lied about it by ratamacue · · Score: 1

      There is an even bigger lie associated with the invasion -- the lie that human lives can be sacrificed for the "common good" (i.e. the agenda of those in power). The lie that an individual does not own his own life, and that those in power (government) have the right to override the individual's right to life according to their agenda.

      This is the lie of "collateral damage", and it proposes that all innocent deaths or injuries in time of war are ACCIDENTS. But, according to the rationale of those in power, there is no way to avoid "collateral damage" without abandoning the war -- a "greater cause" as they propose -- so we should all just accept it.

      Stop right there. If "collateral damage" is unavoidable, then how can it be considered an accidental event? It can't. Although the US government would never admit it, they KNEW that innocent people would die in this war. They didn't know exactly who, or when, or how -- but they knew that innocent people would die.

      Am I proposing that the US government set out to kill innocents on purpose? You're damn right I am. They made a concious decision to sacrifice innocent lives for their cause. That, my friends, is the common definition of "terrorism".

    4. Re:It matters that GWB lied about it by louferd · · Score: 1

      Do you pay any taxes in any of the countries that participated in the war action? You must have known that your money could have been spent on military actions. That would make you as culpable as the leaders you condemn, by your somewhat unique logic.

      Your argument also assumes that no innocent people were killed by the Iraqi regime, or would be in future years. I think you would have a hard time arguing that assumption.

  61. All tech from Japan by cybersekkin · · Score: 1

    Hey I am currently living in Japan N. Korea gets free unchecked exports from here (usually marked as food, but even the government here admits most of it is Money from "north Korean companies" i.e. N. Korean government opened banks in Japan used to filter the drug money they earn here) N. Korea has also been kidnapping people from here dcoumented back to the 70s to train their own people. I am sure it is not to hard to smuggle someone in as well. The only way to shut down N Korea is to get the Japanese government to shut down this b.s.

  62. Even if it's true, how important is it? by Walter+Wart · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It is axiomatic in the security biz that everyone is undersecured. But consider the huge number of attacks we get every day. There are plenty of free-range viruses. There are lots and lots and lots of exploits and attacks. Some of the people creating them are damned bright and very well trained.

    And that's just the hobbyists. We aren't even addressing the ones who do it for money.

    So why hasn't computing crashed and burned forever under the weight of all of these? It's because, in our sloppy suboptimal way, we have learned to respond. The procedures for identifying a new attack or vulnerability aren't great. But they are good enough. Our collective immune system responds.

    If North Korea is training 100 l33t hax0rs a year it's a drop in the slop bucket of pros and amateurs already out there doing harm.

    If the numbers aren't that impressive, then how about the kinds of attacks they can do? My suspicion is that it isn't nearly as bad as it seems at first glance. This is North Korea we are talking about. There aren't that many people who have grown up living and breathing OS source code. Of the few really skilled people they have many (most? all?) are probably needed in other capacities making them unavailable to write the next Big Worm.

    And how good will they be? Creativity, the free play of ideas, and the ability to see things from a different perspective - all of which are important to being a really good code monkey let alone a world class security breaker - are capital crimes in North Korea. Praising the Great Leader and lock-step conformity don't cut it when you are trying to come up with the unexpected and the truly creative.

    So even if it's not pure propaganda from Seoul I'm not all that worried.

    --
    The man who never alters his opinion is like the stagnant water and breeds Reptiles of the Mind -- William Blake
  63. I wonder why this is insightful ? by aepervius · · Score: 1

    I mean one could said that rightist have the tendance to be money grubbing bastard, green doom-sayer, and moderate show-stopper muddying all issue. Come on , people, ueber-generalisation like that are not making the debat advancxe a bit. This is not "argumentation or fact" this is "prejudice".

    --
    C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
    visit randi.org
  64. careful slashdotters anon parent might be a bot ! by ratfynk · · Score: 1

    Got to be a mindless bot to say something like that about a real issue unless parent is actually a descendant!
    Which post came first the chicken or the shit.

    --
    OH THE SHAME I fell off the wagon and use sigs again!
  65. Message from DPRK Hacker! by D.A.+Zollinger · · Score: 1

    All your base are belong to us!

    No, if they did we wouldn't have electricity, or heat, or fuel, or food, or . . .

    --
    I haven't lost my mind!
    It is backed up on disk...somewhere...
  66. Look at California by A+nonymous+Coward · · Score: 1

    We had that power deregulation fiasco about the same time the economy went down hill. Coincidence?

    I think not!

    It just shows to go ya, if you can't keep your electrical grid running, you can't have hacking!

  67. Re:Training by FunkSoulBrother · · Score: 2, Informative

    I have to agree. I learned on DOS on a 286(I'm 15) and I'm a hell of a lot more dangerous than my friends who had the latest Intel chip(a 486 with win3.1) at the time.


    The 486 was only the latest intel chip for 3 years: 1991-1993. If you are 15 now in 2003, this means you were 3 to 5 years old at the time.

    There is a difference between learning how to USE a computer and learning how to "hack".

  68. Re:I needed a good laugh... by volsung · · Score: 1

    Actually, this isn't too abnormal for a CS class in a poor region. My AI teacher was from India, and he practiced LISP on a chalkboard when he was in school. I don't know when he actually got to do it on a real PC. (He was also an excellent programmer/researcher in spite of, or maybe because of, the experience.)

  69. Re:North Korea - a picture is worth a thousand wor by Walter+Wart · · Score: 1

    Anyway, another facinating thing to look for on the map is the Nile River. It on the top right of Africa. It's a very thin bright line with a kink in it. Each bank of the river is densely populated and well developed, but beyond that it is pitch black and empty

    Well, of course. The Nile valley is the only part of Egypt that has water or real soil. The rest is pretty damned useless has been since the Pharoahs.

    --
    The man who never alters his opinion is like the stagnant water and breeds Reptiles of the Mind -- William Blake
  70. Re:Training by kaltkalt · · Score: 1

    I did not say "the only people to ever suicide bomb are muslims/arabs"

    If I told you your family was being held captive by a suicide bomber and the only way they'll be set free is if you can guess whether the bomber is muslim or not (yes or no)... you're telling me there's a pretty good chance it's a member of the LTTE? Bullshit. You're the one blinded by political correctness. More people named mohammad have blown themselves up in the past 6 months than members of the LTTE throughout its entire existence. Again.. get real (even if it sounds sorta yucky).

    --

    Stupid people make stupid things profitable.
  71. Re:Training by 10am-bedtime · · Score: 1

    "there is a difference ..."

    but even a five year old can be coached to scan some docs and type "POKE ADDR, VAL" into a a boot-rom basic prompt.

  72. Simple solution. by Information+Minister · · Score: 1

    Bomb them all! ahaha.. I'm sure south korea nor its neighbours will object.

  73. Jesus! by LoztInSpace · · Score: 1

    I just tried that. Look at all that porn!

  74. Next thing... by Geekbot · · Score: 1

    "How do you launch a cyber-war with no IP infrastructure?"

    In related news, the US Legislature will be opening a University for training politicians in ethics.

  75. strategy... by vladkrupin · · Score: 1

    North Korea builds 8-lane highways that go virtually unused for future growth,

    In TotalAnnihilation this is called a nano-stall. Such 'future expansion' is the beginning of your demise. Check out a strategy game of your choice and try a strategy like that :) Then tell me if you survived 10 minutes.

    --

    Jobs? Which jobs?
  76. Motivation? by Pseudonymus+Bosch · · Score: 1

    The RoK is heavily infiltrated by the DPRK

    I wonder why. What can make the Northern agents work as spies while living in the South? I'd say that the gap (in economic status, freedom) is higher that in W/E Germany or Cuba/Florida.

    --
    __
    Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
    GW Bu
  77. No tech by Goonie · · Score: 1
    From all reports, there aren't any civilian computers in North Korea to monitor.

    The place is a complete and utter basket case.

    --

    Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
    --Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
  78. NK at Linux Counter by Maimun · · Score: 1

    A week or two ago I checked out linuxcounter and I swear there was an entry for north korea (1 user). Now there is nothing. Strange...

  79. Fragging by schnits0r · · Score: 1

    North Korea is training about 100 "cybersoldiers" per year in electronic warfighting tools..

    That's nothing, I'm teaching my sister the exact some techniques. I also discouage camping. Before you know it, she'll frag all you.

  80. Re:North Korea - a picture is worth a thousand wor by znode · · Score: 1
    They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I think this picture says more about North Korea than any article ever could. It's a Nasa compsite image of the Earth At Night. It shows man-made light levels. It beautifully visualizes a combination of population density and "development".
    Wrong. As others have already mentioned, the DPRK military obviously don't have the same treatment as the rest of the nation, as most of the nation's resources go there. They would most certainly have a power grid enough for training, seeing Kim Jong Il's luxuries.
  81. Of Course the USA will Defend North Korea in Media by SilentMajority · · Score: 1

    We all know the North Koreans (well, the leader anyway) is much worse than Saddam & Iraq--for goodness sakes, the North Koreans ADMITTED to violations--we don't even have to make up the weapons of mass destruction story with these guys.

    However, North Korea doesn't have any oil or other valuable resources so attacking them won't bring us the ROI necessary to justify a war.

    Why the heck should we, the USA, throw away billions of dollars and risk a disaster with our trading partners (if the North Koreans get lucky and launch a missile in time at South Korea or Japan)? In the case of Iraq, it was obviously worth all the temporarily bad foreign relations including getting busted for spying on UN officials because of all that oil & strategically located huge mass of land.

    It isn't like we're actually in the business of overthrowing goverments in order to bring down evil dictators who abuse their people--we actually don't give a rats ass about human rights violations overseas--heck, look at Amnesty International's report on the number of children killed by both Israel & Palestine (hint: if you've been getting all your news from the same 5 mega corporations as me, you'll also be SHOCKED about which country actually killed more children last year).

    Folks, war is all about ROI and how we'll benefit economically and militarily. This is why we go to wars. Ever play Sid Meir's Civilization games and break treaties or start wars? This isn't "evil", and this isn't "righteous"--it is simply rational if the goal is to win and sometimes very distasteful when you see the real-life consequences from ALL perspectives.

    Just be grateful that we weren't born overseas and try to think of ways to get that ROI for the USA without wars--because compassion alone isn't enough to stop this train.

    Again, think about the specific benefits we receive from wars and figure out a way for us to get them without actually doing nasty deeds like repeatedly killing/threatening foreign journalists or dropping cluster bombs that cause civilians to die. If you can help us gain those benefits, we might stop invading other countries and making up plausible stories to justify our actions.

    Am I a conservative or liberal? Neither. I just believe in the Constitution of the USA and will defend your right to speak your mind even if I totally disagree with your views. God Bless America--we have our share of faults and need to improve but I'm proud to be an American.

    http://www.commoncause.org
    http://www.fair.org

  82. My stupidity? by SimplyCosmic · · Score: 1

    I take it you haven't even played the game, in which you as a player can play any of the three sides.

    If anything, the game is a commercial for the might of the Chinese army, being that the last time I looked at the stats, they were on average the most successful in online multiplayer matches.

    I only play the American forces because I prefer the capabilities of their units, not because I think they're any more morally correct than the others.

  83. Re:North Korea - a picture is worth a thousand wor by K-Man · · Score: 1

    Yes, but that will all change once they start harvesting energy from people's bodies.

    --
    ---- "If we have to go on with these damned quantum jumps, then I'm sorry that I ever got involved" - Erwin Schrodinger
  84. No can do by GnarlyNome · · Score: 1

    We're saving our nukes for Franceafter all, Everyone likes a little nukkie.

    --
    Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice doggie" until you can find a rock. Will Rogers
  85. South Korea Responds by FuriousBroccoli · · Score: 1

    "North Korean is chobo! South Korea have gosu starcraft only!! our ghost nukk them first!!! kekekeke"

  86. mod 'The immorality of Open Source' is funny? by ratfynk · · Score: 1

    What would be really a scream is that if the parent post to this came from Bill Gates as an Anonymous
    Coward!

    --
    OH THE SHAME I fell off the wagon and use sigs again!
  87. Re:Of Course the USA will Defend North Korea in Me by gangien · · Score: 1
    We all know the North Koreans (well, the leader anyway) is much worse than Saddam & Iraq--for goodness sakes


    This is like saying an apple is more of a fruit than an orange, they're both fruit, which is more of one? There's no real way to tell.

    I dunno how many people have starved/died ect because of North Korea's aweful government, but i do know that hundreds of thousands have people have been killed by Saddam, and these are facts that no one questions. Saddam had WMD, another unquestioned fact, North Korea says they do or atleast are trying to build some. Who's worse they're both going to hell imo.

    It isn't like we're actually in the business of overthrowing goverments in order to bring down evil dictators who abuse their people--we actually don't give a rats ass about human rights violations overseas--heck, look at Amnesty International's report on the number of children killed by both Israel & Palestine (hint: if you've been getting all your news from the same 5 mega corporations as me, you'll also be SHOCKED about which country actually killed more children last year).


    The fact isn't so much that we don't give a rats ass, the fact is, look what happened to our foreign relationships when we attacked Saddam, someone, who as i said before, unquestionable killed hundreds of thousands of people, and even invaded another country. We got crap from everywhere except basically Israel and our own people. One of the problems is, the world in general lacks the ability to look at things in an objective manor. You can't say killing saddam is ok because he killed so many other people. people think you are a warmonger ect ect.

    Another thing, why is anybody ever shocked when they learn Israel kills people? I swear, it's umm a duh factor. We killed children in Iraq. Is this stuff right? no. shit happens in war. quite frankly if I'm in the infantry and in a fire fight, if i think some kid poses a threat to me, I would shoot him. There is no time for second guessing and all this other stuff that you can do after the fact. War is hell, you're 'workday' is not hell, your life is not hell. War is. You have to make these decisions where there is no right answer and your decision means ending the life of others.

    Again, think about the specific benefits we receive from wars and figure out a way for us to get them without actually doing nasty deeds like repeatedly killing/threatening foreign journalists or dropping cluster bombs that cause civilians to die. If you can help us gain those benefits, we might stop invading other countries and making up plausible stories to justify our actions.


    Do you honestly believe that people in washington are so evil that they would do that? I believe their are some, and I believe a lot of them would lie if it were in their interests, but I do not believe that Bush or RUmsfeld or especially Powell would invade and kill thousands for money. If they do, they've got a nice spot in hell waiting for them, next to Saddam. But I don't believe they would, I believe, like most people, they would lie but not at the expense of thousands of lives.

    I do however aggree 100% with your last paragraph.
  88. Legalities? by Alpha_Nerd · · Score: 1

    Does anybody know what the legalities are on hacking into computers ran by the "axis of evil"??

    I'm sure that if a NK system admin called up the FBI, they wouldn't exactly give a shit...

  89. Re:After having fucked up royally in Iraq by gangien · · Score: 1
    and finding out that's it's much harder to keep a country than defeat it, the empty warheads in the pentagon are now urging caution and not invasion, even though this country (NK) has openly admitted having WMD and has threatened to use them, as opposed to Iraq where now, finally, after months of pure unadulterated crap, people in the UK and the US of short_attention_span A are finally starting to realise that Bush, Blair and co. pulled a fast one on them.


    Ahh yea, blair, who basically risked his job and I daresay life on this issue. But did so because he felt it was the right thing to do. How dare you say they pulled a fast one on us, what evidence do you have? none, zero, zip. Excluding some supposided news source that has the credibility of say the national enquirer(spellign?) ANd I cannot believe that people think Iraq did not have WMD.. they had them before, this is a fact, never displayed evidence that they destroyed them... so either they had them or gave them to someone else.. WHy would they get rid of them and not give any sort of evidence? umm they wouldn't. unless it was for other reasons IE giving them to someone else who would use them. so we're the war mongers for removing a regime resopnsibilty for brutaliy murdering hundreds of thousands of people, another undisputed fact.
  90. What an advisor the US have! by jorlando · · Score: 2, Insightful

    From the article:
    "The following year, Pentagon adviser and Rand consultant John Arquilla concocted a fictional scenario, published in Wired magazine, of a global cyberwar engineered by -- whom else -- the North Koreans."

    Later in the article:
    "Arquilla said highly automated U.S. military processes, such as the "air tasking order" of an air campaign, or time-phased deployment of troops and equipment, could be disrupted by a North Korean cyberattack."

    "In such cases, the disruption of American combat operations and logistics could make a very substantial difference in the overall military campaign," said Arquilla.

    So I can infere from what mr. Arquilla said that the US armed forces coordinate their logistics and operations using the open structure from the Internet and it's usual tools...

    I almost can see general Schwarzkopf using ICQ group messages to coordinate an attack... the friendly fire? someone looking at some p0rn webcam get so excited and fires a full blast :-)

    geez... how I would like to be a consultant... talking bullshit like this and getting attention... and if I really wanted to get media attention I would mention blinding comms sattelites and using EMP weapons in the war field... they would think "geez... this guy is Grand Moff Tarkin incarnated" :-)

  91. Re:North Korea - a picture is worth a thousand wor by incom · · Score: 1

    Notice the falklands aren't there. I had an older version in which they were large and bright. But maybe that was during the war.

    --
    True genius is grasping a situation like a peice of fruit, and peircing it just right so that it drains dry.
  92. Flame them commies! from a hippie by ratfynk · · Score: 1

    After US vs Iraq 2 you can now drive your monster suv to the cornerstore to get your booze. Then go home and bitch about things on Slashdot a little cheaper thanks to Sir George Bush and Co. Cyber war with the Chinese is about as stupid as driving an SUV in town.

    People living in the Orient want peace and International brotherhood/sisterhood
    as much as any other sane group of human beings. Not some abstract political shit like communism. Or; what was American enlightened self interest. Now become, get ahead of the Jones/ at all environmental cost /who wants to be a millionaire /consumerism.

    I am an old time hippie idealist, and hope to die happy with my ideals rather than sit around watching the mushroom clouds bloom on CNN till one hits home.

    Ps, a flamer for your eyes;

    Boy the advertising and network rights to that show could be worth about 6,000,000,000 or about a buck a person world wide. Might even pull in more than the big Eyerac (Iraq) show did. We would kick those commie nukes butts! Nothing to worry about we use Microsoft servers, those dumb stupid unix commies can't do visual studio worth shit.

    --
    OH THE SHAME I fell off the wagon and use sigs again!
  93. Re:North Korea - a picture is worth a thousand wor by Bartmoss · · Score: 1
    They claim various international organizations are "conspiring" against them.

    Of course, Bush's "Axis Of Evil" speech and the example he set with Iraq probably aren't exactly a good incentive for a country to disarm.

  94. Re:All tech from Japan and elsewhere by ratfynk · · Score: 1

    ya, i here you. the drug money problems are still going on in central america and south america also.
    its just that the current admin in the states has side showed the real trouble because coke has become too big and runs alot of the polit now.
    i am sure that alot of financing of koreas nukes and tech comes from laundered drug money also.

    americans have got to stop driving around in an suv while they are snorting our future out the windows, pun intended, or the situation will get out of hand.

    please excuse the lack of caps my old dell key board is starting to bite the dust.

    --
    OH THE SHAME I fell off the wagon and use sigs again!
  95. Pentagon : the skill is inside ;-) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    "Even the Pentagon says North Korea's hacker academy is probably just propaganda by South Korea."

    That is right they know much of what is propaganda ;-)

    Did ya forget about the "mass destruction weapon" that was suppose to legitimate the Iraq invasion ? :o)

    -LOL

  96. So they can cheat in games. by supz · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I know this will be modded down, but I feel I must comment on this being a bad thing, as they will only use it to write more cheats and wall hacks for counter-strike, and ruin the game play for the rest of us. Down with those communists!

  97. Re:North Korea - a picture is worth a thousand wor by Alsee · · Score: 1

    quote: They claim various international organizations are "conspiring" against them
    yea, we all know the CIA dont conspire against or assassinate anyone...


    I see the Trolls have been eating lead-laced paint chips again. Since when is the CIA is an international organization?

    -

    --
    - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  98. Re:North Korea - a picture is worth a thousand wor by Alsee · · Score: 1

    Well, of course.

    I agree. I was just pointing out that it's an interesting map feature.

    -

    --
    - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  99. Re:North Korea - a picture is worth a thousand wor by Alsee · · Score: 1

    Wrong.

    I don't think I made any "wrong" statements. Read my post more carefully, I never said what you think I said.

    I was commenting on the country in general. DPRK is an economic wasteland crushed under the burden of excessive military spending. They are repressive, paranoid, armed to the teeth, and they want nukes.

    I never said they were incapable of an internet attack.

    -

    --
    - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  100. Propaganda by NoSuchGuy · · Score: 1, Insightful

    A lot of statements from the Pentagon or the Bush administration are propaganda too.

    NoSuchGuy

    --
    Grundgesetz * 23. Mai 1949 - 30. November 2007 - http://www.vorratsdatenspeicherung.de/
  101. turn up the gamma by slasher+guy · · Score: 1

    If you turn the gamma up, you can actually see the land, as well as the lights. It becomes much more clear where everything is.

  102. Why is this news? by KlausBreuer · · Score: 1

    So South Korea is distrubuting propaganda about their hated opponent again, which is also spread by the USA (who also hate NK).

    And we can see this is pretty obvious.

    So... why, exactly, is this news?

    --
    Free PC version of ChipWits at http://www.breueronline.de/klaus/chipwits/
  103. IP connectivity by Alan+Cox · · Score: 2, Interesting

    North Korea also has plenty of IP connectivity. If you look back through the news you'll discover their government did a hosting deal with a large internet casino where the casino did all the work and the government got some of the bandwidth.

  104. Re:Training by Scooter · · Score: 1

    Hmm maybe it's not too difficult to train a script kiddie, but for real depth of knowledge, I do think you need to have some kind of aptitude for it, and that it isn't just a matter of enough training. I would say on that basis, that yes, flying a commercial airliner whilst not easier, *is* more a matter of training. You don't *really* need to understand the nitty gritty of fluid thermo-dynamics to fly the plane (although some knowledge of physics is appropriate... To be a really effective cyberspy though, I believe real in-depth knowledge is essential.

    Script kiddies are another matter - I agree - anyone can be trained to operate some tools that someone with more aptitude and insight came up with.

  105. Hacking vs Cracking by mirabilos · · Score: 1

    When writing about breaking into systems, please
    use the term "cracking", and in no event "hacking",
    since people might get a bad opinion about us
    hackers/geeks/nerds/...

    Reference: www.catb.org/~esr/jargon

    --
    My Karma isn't excellent, damn it! (And /. still does not get UTF-8 right in 2012. Wow.)
  106. More believeable than you think... by TygerFish · · Score: 2, Insightful


    In 1996, North Korea sent well-trained and well-armed infiltration agents into South Korea on an information-gathering mission and if it hadn't been for one sharp-eyed cabdriver, we might never have known that it had even happened.

    With leadership resembling a Stalinist 'cult of personality' possessing total information control at its disposal, the North Korean government can create and has created effective personel resources in areas pertaining to espionage and infiltration. This well-documented fact makes the idea of North Korea's running a military 'cyberacademy' a lot more credible than the Iraq-obsessed U.S. Government which has a stake in playing down a North Korean threat would have you believe.

    Two incidents show go far to prove this:

    The first is the aforementioned infiltration of Nouth Korean reconnaisance troops by submarine.

    After the infiltrator's accidental discovery, they were hunted down by south Korean Military and police units. After a series of bloody firefights, rather than face capture some of the infiltrators and submarine crew were shot to death by their own officers.

    Here is a link to the story. http://www.koreascope.org/english/sub/2/nk10_7.htm

    The second is the discovery after thirty years, that North Korea sent agents into Japan to kidnap individuals to serve as tutors in masquerading as Japanese nationals for the North Korean intelligence services. These people, among others, were flown to Japan for a brief reunion after decades of captivity during which their families had long since given them up for dead.

    North Korea may have a very low GNP by western standards, but it is an industrialized nation and the ability of its government to divert resources from one segment of society to another certainly lends strong credence to the threat described in the article.

    --
    To mail me, remove the 'mailno' from my email addy.
    "Yeah. It smells, too..."
    1. Re:More believeable than you think... by Christ0ph · · Score: 1

      TygerFish is right. And those episodes are only the tip of the iceberg. If you think the bizarre story of Japan's Om cult a few years ago is strange, wait till the wall around North Korea crumbles.. some of the stories coming out of there will make you scream.. Its a similar situation, North Korea is basically a cult. Some high(?)lights.

      1.) The brainwashing of millions of people to worship their leaders as gods.. (not like gods, AS gods)
      2.) The nerve of Kim Jong-Il to set up a huge pimping system to furnish him with thousands of the prettiest women from all of the high schools in the country to provide him with various forms of satisfaction, including sexual.. (The so-called 'Pleasure Team')
      3.) The bizarre North Korean negotiating technique that effectively uses the entire countries population as hostages..

  107. Not bloody likely by mothrathegreat · · Score: 1
    I shouldnt imagine that north korea would sink any serious cash into something like this, they're far too busy pumping money into statues of kim il sun (sp?) and teaching the general population just how great their country is.

    Seriously though they have enough problems looking after their people as it is, if this is actually going on it's a bit pointless.

    --
    Extended Warranty? How can I lose!
  108. Who needs Pr0n? by A55M0NKEY · · Score: 1

    When you're high up enough in the North Korean Pecking Order ( NKPO ) you can just have ye wenches brought to your room.

    --

    Eat at Joe's.

  109. Different? by vinlud · · Score: 1

    North Korea can barely keep its electrical grid up - not to mention feed its people.

    Like the United States?

    --
    Repeat after me: We are all individuals
  110. The TRUE danger of open wireless points by TheConfusedOne · · Score: 1

    Heh! They don't even need to cross the border. Or well maybe they do to buy a single can of Pringles and then they're off to the races!!! :-D

    --
    --- I wish I could hear the soundtrack to my life. That way I'd know when to duck.
  111. Re:Training by kevmit · · Score: 1
    I doubt some makeshift terrorist camp is going to give people programming skill
    Yeah...'cause programming skill is so tough and all; much more difficult than say...successfully hijacking multiple jumbo jets and piloting them into the WTC and Pentagon on cue.
  112. How funny by lysium · · Score: 1
    Once daylight returns to the good US of A, I get the flamebait mods. Thank god for all the patriots that do not know their history. :p

    --
    Together, we will drive the rats from the tundra.
  113. Yeah wise boy. by jotaeleemeese · · Score: 1

    It is great that you came wuth that museum idea, I propose that you become the first exhibit there.

    NK has tested missiles that could threaten any country in South Asia, they have a big and well trained army, perhaps as brainwashed as the Taliban (this people love their leaders, the incentive is to avoid torture and certain death, but who knows. In most dictatorships there are signs of a resistence movement, at least some Graffiti or clandestine literature. In NK theres is nothing, zero, zilch, nada), one of the few hard cash earners for this country is warfare technology, specially in the medium range missile field.

    Also notice that the experts are concerned (in this site you can find names of the NK nuclear reactors and their capacity).

    So do you want a glass box or a proper cage in the museum?

    --
    IANAL but write like a drunk one.
  114. And also there is a list of reactors. by jotaeleemeese · · Score: 1

    Go to the International Atomic Energy Agaency's website and look around.

    --
    IANAL but write like a drunk one.
  115. Some USians.... by jotaeleemeese · · Score: 1

    .... have a persecution complex.

    Some of them (around 99%) can't understand that disagreements about one thing with them does not mean hate or automatic bashing.

    --
    IANAL but write like a drunk one.
  116. Fscking neo-colonialists. by jotaeleemeese · · Score: 1

    If Iraq was not a threat to the US, who gave the US authority to decide unilaterally which people should be "liberated" at the expense of the "liberated people"?

    What moral or legal authority does the US have to decide if a goverment in a sovereign country should stay or go?

    The US has no mandate to liberate anybody, the only justification to attack another country is if yours is under genuine threat or if the UN decides that invasion is the only way to stop genocide. Sorry to break it to you but Hussein stop commiting genocide after the first Gulf war, after that he was just another dictator.

    That is why it matters if WMDs are found or not. But sadly it seems like the US populace has gotten used to be lied to and will not care about the integrity of their elected representatives.

    --
    IANAL but write like a drunk one.
    1. Re:Fscking neo-colonialists. by RealAlaskan · · Score: 1
      If Iraq was not a threat to the US, who gave the US authority to decide unilaterally which people should be "liberated" at the expense of the "liberated people"?

      No one needs to ``give the US authority''. No one HAS that authority to give. We took it on our selves, quite properly.

      What moral or legal authority does the US have to decide if a goverment in a sovereign country should stay or go?

      Unless you believe in a Supreme Being, there can be no such moral or legal authority. Bush quite clearly believes that God wants him to do what's right, and this clearly was right.

      The US has no mandate to liberate anybody, ...

      To the contrary, to be able to liberate anyone and fail to do so is unconscionable.

      ... the only justification to attack another country is if yours is under genuine threat or if the UN decides that invasion is the only way to stop genocide.

      You were starting to make sense, in a wrong-headed way, until you got to the UN part. Your points seem to be first that the UN, that collection of the scum of the earth, is somehow imbued with the moral authority that God apparently lacks in your eyes. The second point I got from this is that mass murder is ok, as long as you leave a few fish swimming in the gene pool so that it isn't genocide. Ridiculous crap.

  117. There are countries... by jotaeleemeese · · Score: 1

    ... whose principles differ widely from the ones of the US.

    Don't be idiotic, other countries have different points of view and don't have childish foreign policies to make the US or any other country angry.

    --
    IANAL but write like a drunk one.
  118. Re:Of Course the USA will Defend North Korea in Me by SilentMajority · · Score: 1

    North Korean government is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people--especially through starvation. They have also been responsible for numerous terrorist activities outside their own borders. This is a fact. They are FAR MORE ahead of Iraq in terms of WMD development including nuclear warheads and longer range missles. >>"Saddam had WMD, another unquestioned fact, North Korea says they do or atleast are trying to build some." Holy Cow! They found WMD in Iraq??? Where exactly is the WMD and when was it found? What is the source of your info? If you're referring to the HUGE multi-day ABC news story on April 26-27, then you've been misled my friend. They knew 2 days beforehand it was unconfirmed and they didn't air a retraction when they later found out the story was false. Don't take my word for it, see the facts about the proven-to-be bogus ABC story here: http://www.fair.org/activism/abc-iraq-weapons.html "We got crap from everywhere except basically Israel and our own people." Of course this happened and here's exactly why: 1. Israel and Iraq are bitter enemies with Iraq posing a real danger to Israel. Remember that Iraq launched missiles at Israel in the past. 2. Americans like you and me received 99.999% of our news from the same 5 USA corporations that made us believe that the war was totally justified and that people believing otherwise are unpatriotic left-wing conspiracy theorists (aka misguided losers). If I owned a "big-5" media company, I wouldn't air anti-war or anti-GOP stuff either given that the FCC was going to vote to relax media ownership rules on June 2, 2003--which would help me make billions more for my shareholders. Want examples? Here's how Wolf Blitzer tried damage control during a story and came out exposing himself not to be a true journalist: http://www.fair.org/extra/0301/blitzer.html Examples of how we handled some of our journalists: http://www.fair.org/press-releases/iraq-censorship .html Examples of we handled some foreign journalists: http://www.fair.org/press-releases/iraq-journalist s.html Example story you'll never hear on TV despite it being a huge scoop (poisoning/destroying a country's water supply and preventing required repair parts to be imported so that children/civilians die of disease caused by contaminated water--if this isn't terrorism, then what is? it certainly violates the Geneva Convention) http://www.progressive.org/0801issue/nagy0901.html >>"Do you honestly believe that people in washington are so evil that they would do that?" If you re-read my post, you'll see that I explicately state that our government (USA) isn't evil. Our leaders are simply doing their job to make our country stronger for the future both economically and militarily. Unfortunately this end-goal sometimes requires very distasteful actions. And our public won't swallow these distasteful actions without vigorous protest if they had all the facts so we have to sanitize it and spin it so things don't get out of hand like it did during the Vietnam war. Controlling the flow of oil isn't just about money--it is about security as well since so much of our infrastructure and econony relies on it. I hope you visit the links I've provided to at http://www.fair.org--whether you are a conservative or liberal, it helps to identify media bias so you can form your opinions based on fact rather than spin.

  119. You meant Malvinas :-P by jotaeleemeese · · Score: 1

    I love /.

    --
    IANAL but write like a drunk one.
  120. Re:Of Course the USA will Defend North Korea in Me by SilentMajority · · Score: 1

    Woops, formatting was lost in my last reply. Sorry.

    North Korean government is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people--especially through starvation. They have also been responsible for numerous terrorist activities outside their own borders. This is a fact. They are FAR MORE ahead of Iraq in terms of WMD development including nuclear warheads and longer range missles.

    >>"Saddam had WMD, another unquestioned fact, North Korea says they do or atleast are trying to build some."

    Holy Cow! They found WMD in Iraq??? Where exactly is the WMD and when was it found? What is the source of your info? If you're referring to the HUGE multi-day ABC news story on April 26-27, then you've been misled my friend. They knew 2 days beforehand it was unconfirmed and they didn't air a retraction when they later found out the story was false.

    Don't take my word for it, see the facts about the proven-to-be bogus ABC story here:

    http://www.fair.org/activism/abc-iraq-weapons.ht ml

    "We got crap from everywhere except basically Israel and our own people."

    Of course this happened and here's exactly why:

    1. Israel and Iraq are bitter enemies with Iraq posing a real danger to Israel. Remember that Iraq launched missiles at Israel in the past.

    2. Americans like you and me received 99.999% of our news from the same 5 USA corporations that made us believe that the war was totally justified and that people believing otherwise are unpatriotic left-wing conspiracy theorists (aka misguided losers).

    If I owned a "big-5" media company, I wouldn't air anti-war or anti-GOP stuff either given that the FCC was going to vote to relax media ownership rules on June 2, 2003--which would help me make billions more for my shareholders.

    Want examples? Here's how Wolf Blitzer tried damage control during a story and came out exposing himself not to be a true journalist:
    http://www.fair.org/extra/0301/blitze r.html

    Examples of how we handled some of our journalists:
    http://www.fair.org/press-releases/i raq-censorship .html

    Examples of we handled some foreign journalists:
    http://www.fair.org/press-releases/i raq-journalist s.html

    Example story you'll never hear on TV despite it being a huge scoop (poisoning/destroying a country's water supply and preventing required repair parts to be imported so that children/civilians die of disease caused by contaminated water--if this isn't terrorism, then what is? it certainly violates the Geneva Convention)
    http://www.progressive.org/0801issue/ nagy0901.html

    >>"Do you honestly believe that people in washington are so evil that they would do that?"

    If you re-read my post, you'll see that I explicately state that our government (USA) isn't evil. Our leaders are simply doing their job to make our country stronger for the future both economically and militarily. Unfortunately this end-goal sometimes requires very distasteful actions. And our public won't swallow these distasteful actions without vigorous protest if they had all the facts so we have to sanitize it and spin it so things don't get out of hand like it did during the Vietnam war.

    Controlling the flow of oil isn't just about money--it is about security as well since so much of our infrastructure and econony relies on it.

    I hope you visit the links I've provided to at http://www.fair.org--whether you are a conservative or liberal, it helps to identify media bias so you can form your opinions based on fact rather than spin.

  121. Soldiers are people by Gorimek · · Score: 1

    I include killed Iraqi soldiers in my numbers. Your answers illustrates the deeply disturbing but very common American view that they were not even people. I'm not aware of any serious attempts to keep track of them, but around 25000 seems like a reasonable number.

    The IraqBodyCount.com numbers are pretty solidly documented, and only includes those occasions when a journalist were present, so I would think the real number is quite a bit higher.

    I'm not sure what you're suggesting about how to count the prisoners and children. Should anyone killed by Saddam's regime be subtracted from the numbers of killed by the invasion forces? That's not factual reporting.

    I think most everyone cares about the Iraqi suffering, and even the worst critics of the war are happy that at least one good thing came out of it.

  122. Interested in North Korea? by Christ0ph · · Score: 1

    Then check out my two web pages at:

    http://www.ncafe.com/northkorea/ (archived stuff)
    and
    http://www.freenorthkorea.net (blog)

    (unlinked to prevent the rampant /. effect)

    Some of the more bizzare aspects of North Korea would blow most of your minds..

    We need your help in figuring out how to break the information blockade around North Korea..

  123. An Apolitical 'Must' Read! (please mod this up) by Christ0ph · · Score: 1

    Two Stories from North Korea:

    http://ncafe.com/northkorea/SunOkLeeTestimony_w_ ll us.pdf

    http://ncafe.com/northkorea/AnMyong-cholTestimon y. pdf

  124. Not really worried... by russotto · · Score: 1

    They train these 100 cybersoldiers, and then let 'em hook up to the real net. The cybersoldiers find /., Usenet, and pr0n, become hooked, and waste most of their time on those activities. Then they claim credit with their bosses for every defacement, bug, or virus to come down the pike, and everyone is happy.

    1. Re:Not really worried... by Christ0ph · · Score: 1

      There is no direct Internet in North Korea except for one, tiny cybercafe that costs around a years salary for three minutes and is open to foreigners only.. A person I know who travels regularly to North Korea tells me that effectively there is no Internet in North Korea. The colleges have an 'intranet' of sorts, but it is not connected to the outside world. There are no sites in the world that use North Korea's Internet domain.. Read The Official Propaganda In The DPRK: Ideas And Methods and The Repressive System And The Political Control In North Korea

  125. Re:North Korea - a picture is worth a thousand wor by Alsee · · Score: 2, Informative

    LOL. If you want to ridicule a post by echoing it and "reversing" who it talks about, you have to make sure the reversal maintains atleast a smidgin of truth. Otherwise you just make yourself look like an idiot.

    That black hole of a country

    On that map North Korea is in fact a "black hole". It looks like ocean. The United states is by far the brightest region, with "the whole of euorpe" coming in a close second.

    the world's LARGEST ARMY and LARGEST NUMBER OF NUKES.

    You are demonstrating pure ignorance. China has the worlds larget army, 2.9 million servicemen, more than double the US's 1.4 million. Russia has the most nukes, well over twice as many as the US.

    They are diverting their entire economy (what little there is of it) to supporting that army and building weapons.

    North Korea spends somewhere between 20% and 30% of its GDP on its military while approximately 10% of its population has starved to death in recent years. The US spends somewhere between 4.3% and 5.7% on its military, and the US spends a higher percentage of its miliary spending on RESEARCH, compared to all western nations. The US provides food (food stamps) to anyone who needs them.

    The North American government is incredibly isolationist

    LMAO! Isolationist?? The usual complaint is the exact the opposite.

    and paranoid.

    The US thinks that there are terrorists trying to blow up Americans and American buildings. Americans and American builings are in fact blowing up.

    In this document North Korea accuses the UN and the International Atomic Energy Agency of conspiring to harm North Korea. Part of the "proof" of this supposed conspiracy is the fact that North Korea is reffered to as "North Korea" rather than as "DPRK". They take a "serious view" of this "insult to their soverignty". This document is fairly typical of North Korean perception on international relations. Not to mention their constant fear that at any moment the 38,000 US personel and South Korea's half million servicemen are going to charge head-long into what is undoubtedly the most heavily forified border in the world, against the third largest army in the world.

    As for Liberation, Iraqis were in fact dancing in the streets and toppling Saddam statues. Somehow I don't think you are going to find many South Koreans welcoming North Korean forces.

    -

    --
    - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  126. Re:Of Course the USA will Defend North Korea in Me by SilentMajority · · Score: 1

    >What treaty/deal is this ?

    Actually, "treaties/deals" would be more accurate since they broke 4 and ADMITTED to it:

    1. "Agreed Framework" of 1994,
    2. Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty,
    3. the International Atomic Energy Agency Safeguards Agreement,
    4. North-South Denuclearization Agreement.

    ---
    Source: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Oct2002/n10172002_ 200210175.html

    WASHINGTON, Oct. 17, 2002 -- United States government officials will consult with friends and allies on what to do about North Korea's admission that it has been developing nuclear weapons, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today.

    North Korean officials reportedly admitted to an American diplomat that they have an active nuclear weapons program in defiance of the so- called Agreed Framework. In this agreement, North Korea promised in 1994 that it would freeze its nuclear program.

    "It is a reality that they stand in direct breach of four separate agreements, by their own admission," Rumsfeld said in a Pentagon press briefing. The other three agreements North Korea has violated are the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the International Atomic Energy Agency Safeguards Agreement, and the North-South Denuclearization Agreement.

    Rumsfeld said U.S. officials will be speaking to Japan and South Korean counterparts, as well as representatives of the People's Republic of China, Russia and possibly the European Union.

    He indicated U.N. weapons inspectors in North Korea are not a likely option at this point, since the country has already admitted its violations.

    [...]

  127. Re:Of Course the USA will Defend North Korea in Me by gangien · · Score: 1
    Holy Cow! They found WMD in Iraq??? Where exactly is the WMD and when was it found? What is the source of your info? If you're referring to the HUGE multi-day ABC news story on April 26-27, then you've been misled my friend. They knew 2 days beforehand it was unconfirmed and they didn't air a retraction when they later found out the story was false.


    No, I was reffering to the fact that they had them before, as in years ago. That is unquestioned, gassing the kurds? And I should add, I don't own a TV, and when I'm at home (not my dorm room) I mainly watch CNN as far as news goes. Also should add, why should I trust progressive.org and fair.org anymore than abc.com and msnbc.com? No reason, you might say cus they alter stuff and whatnot. Well the fact is, EVERYONE does this, you, me, Sam, Joe, and Bob even. And they're big so they do it on a larger scale.

    "We got crap from everywhere except basically Israel and our own people."

    Of course this happened and here's exactly why:


    Your points are helping my argument. I said why we wouldn't invade other countries that do similiar inhumane things. Iraq has ties to terrorism, and had chemical weapons. Every other country has a different situtation, so we can't justify ivnading countries, because people killing thousands does not make it right to invade another country according to international views. You have to have a specific threat to an outside element. North Korea has one threat, they're army and nuclear weapons. They are extremely isolated. Plus if they do happen to launch a nuclear weapon they will become non existant. So their usage of WMD is far less likely.

    If I owned a "big-5" media company, I wouldn't air anti-war or anti-GOP stuff either given that the FCC was going to vote to relax media ownership rules on June 2, 2003--which would help me make billions more for my shareholders.


    One of the problems wiht capitalism, point made. But like I said ebfore, everything is slanted, i try and get many news sources on an issue if i care about it. But the ironic thing is, that rarely do they ever add anything. They have their spin on issues and I daresay moreso than the Big US ones. IE I was reading an article about the Bush regime from some Arabic site. Good lord, the only facts he presented were things I already knew. Just his opinion on things.

    Your progressiv elink just refers to the documents that he's unconvered and such. Why on earth would I believe him? Have other sites confirmed this? He could be lying extremely easily. But anyhow, if these things he reports are true, and I don't doubt they're not, than yes, the people involved should be punished. These types of things should be illegal. But you have 1 source, that proves exactly nothing.

    If you re-read my post, you'll see that I explicately state that our government (USA) isn't evil. Our leaders are simply doing their job to make our country stronger for the future both economically and militarily. Unfortunately this end-goal sometimes requires very distasteful actions. And our public won't swallow these distasteful actions without vigorous protest if they had all the facts so we have to sanitize it and spin it so things don't get out of hand like it did during the Vietnam war.


    Well find some evidence that's more credible than some joe blow 'uncovering' documents, and I'll believe you. I do not believe that our government could collectively cover up all these things, which out much more evidence being leaked. It's the nature of people to leak things. What good is a secret if you can't tell it? And overtime this does happen, as things become obsolete and such, yet you can find little evidence that we've more than any other country has done. And we are scrutinized by far the most, by other countries.

    Nice to have an intelligent reply instead of some troll or some moron making fun of me. :)

  128. Re:So what? by shaitand · · Score: 1

    While we don't regularly use weapons of mass destruction against defenseless countries, we do wage war against them fairly routinely. Vietnam, Iraq, Somalia, yeah we were really afraid of these nations, yup that's it. They had us shivering.

    And while starvation and hunger may not be as bad in the US as it is in Africa, it is there and it's largely not talked about, poverty in the US is not in short supply at all.

    hmmm oh yes, and the media, you actually think our media isn't censored? Our media is censored by both corporate and government influence... the government may not come prancing in with guns to stop a story but that's only because they don't have to. If you compare the media coverage of an event to the coverage in multiple foreign countries on a regular basis you'll start to see what I mean...

  129. Re:Of Course the USA will Defend North Korea in Me by SilentMajority · · Score: 1

    >"One of the problems wiht capitalism, point made."

    Actually, big-5 media corporations focusing on pro-gop news and marginalizing opposing views is not capitalism. Neither is special interests such as media companies using campaign contributions to modify/repeal existing laws to their advantage. IMHO, this is simply legalized bribery and has nothing to do with capitalism.

    capitalism: An economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately or corporately owned and development is proportionate to the accumulation and reinvestment of profits gained in a free market.
    --Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

    >"Well find some evidence that's more credible than some joe blow 'uncovering' documents, and I'll believe you."

    First, all the links I provided was from www.fair.org except for one. Fair.org is well-respected and was founded by Jeff Cohen--he appeared on Today, Larry King, NPR, Fox News Channel's News Watch (as regular panelist), and CNN's Crossfire (as co-host). Also, his columns have appeared in USA Today, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe and Miami Herald.

    Secondly, you should check out C-SPAN rather than CNN next time you visit someone with a TV (yea, it can be boring but you get to see what our elected officials REALLY do in office--and it isn't so boring when people you voted for do things that are completely opposite of what they protrayed during elections). You'd see without any 3rd-party spin that we have members of congress and senate calling for an investigation into the Iraq/WMD false accusation and the pro-war members recasting the term "weapons" to "capabilities" (similar to the sleezy Clinton tactic of playing word games with the term "sex"--that was unnacceptable back then and this is unnacceptable now).

    But unlike Clinton's Whitewater or Monica "scandals", the GOP doesn't want an investigation into this. Just like they didn't want an investigation or full disclosure of meeting notes regarding the conversations between VP Cheney and Enron (with the millions of people directly affected by Enron's corruption, I'd have thought it deserved as much air-time as Whitewater).

    And finally, I gave you very specific examples of blatant media spin that includes direct quotes (like Wolf Blitzer's interview)--can you do the same and actually prove (not merely accuse) my sources to be doing the same thing?

    If you're interested in non-partisan academic investigation into under-reported or censored news stories, then check out:

    http://www.projectcensored.org/

    They take hundreds/thousands of nominated stories and actually investigate each one to verify or debunk them. Then they vote on the stories they verified to be true and publish a list.

    Follow the link to story #5 about us violating geneva conventions and you'll have your "evidence" that wasn't uncovered merely by Joe Schmoe.

    Again, keep in mind such actions aren't necessarily evil. We have to sometimes do certain undesireable things to protect our national interests.

    CURRENT LIST:
    #1: FCC Moves to Privatize Airwaves
    #2: New Trade Treaty Seeks to Privatize Global Social Services
    #3: United States' Policies in Colombia Support Mass Murder
    #4: Bush Administration Hampered FBI Investigation into Bin Laden Family Before 9/11
    #5: U.S. Intentionally Destroyed Iraq's Water System
    #6: U.S. Government Pushing Nuclear Revival
    #7: Corporations Promote HMO Model for School Districts
    #8: NAFTA Destroys Farming Communities in U.S. and Abroad
    #9: U.S. Faces National Housing Crisis
    #10: CIA Double Deals in Macedonia
    #11: Bush Appoints Former Criminals to Key Government Roles
    #12: NAFTA's Chapter 11 Overrides Public Protection Laws of Countries
    #13: Henry Kissinger and Gerald Ford Lied to the American Public about East Timor
    #14: New Laws Restrict Access to Abortions in U.S.
    #15: Bush's Energy Plan Threatens Environment and P