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North Korea Opens Official Website
wumpus188 writes "This is what I believe is the first official North Korean internet site 'Naenara' ('My Country'). Free reg required (login 'slashdot', password 'password' for you lazy slackers :) I esp. enjoyed the 'Favorite Korean Movies' section."
Someone already changed the password.
username: slashdot
password: password
Invalid password.
KCNA, the NK "news" agensy has had a website for years in Japan. It is under the JP TLD, and the new one is under the NET TLD.
KCNA functions as the spokesperson for the DPKR, the state of North Korea. Probably the least independent news agency in the world, Fox News included.
It's a funny thing : BugMeNot (still haven't installed this Firefox extension ?) already works with this website...
War doesn't prove who's right, just who's left.
In 1999 a german Doctor gained the confidence of the regime. Getting behind the 70ies-kitschy facade, he came back to report on the oppression and poverty.
Google will find you lots of interviews about his experiences.
Any sufficiently advanced libertarian utopia is indistinguishable from government.
Or, perhaps it is because the server is located in Germany, and run by a German company
http://www.kcc-europe.de/index.cfm?defnav=aktuelle &content=aktuelle&showdetail=03123001
Ein Berliner bringt das Internet nach Nordkorea
A doughnut brings the internet to North Korea.
Berliner Kurier: Berlin, 30. December 2003. Anschlüsse gibt es aber nur für regierungstreue Firmen und Behörden.
Berliner Kurier (Newspaper): Berlin, 30. December 2003. But access is only given to companies and agencies which are loyal to the government.
Jan Holthusen investierte mit seiner Firma KCC Europe 700 000 Euro, um Geschäfte mit Nordkorea zu machen. (Foto: V.Otto)
Jan Holthusen's company KCC Europe invested 700,000 Euros in order to do business with North Korea. (Foto: V.Otto)
Es ist der letzte Staat der Welt ohne Internet. Jetzt hilft der Berliner Jan Holtermann (49) Nordkorea ans Netz.
It's the last country in the world without Internet. Now Jan Holtermann (49) from Berlin helps North Korea onto the net.
Die guten Verbindungen in die ostasiatischen Diktatur hat der Kaufmann noch aus Nach-Wende-Zeiten. "Da verkaufte ich EDV-Anlagen aus der DDR nach Nordkorea."
The businessman's good connections to the east asian dictatorship go back to the time after the fall of the Berlin wall. "Back then I sold computer systems from the GDR to North Korea."
Er beriet die Asiaten bei Verträgen und Transaktionen, kam dann im Jahr 2000 zum ersten Mal in die Hauptstadt Pjöngjang. Dort stellt er fest: Kein Internet. Nirgendwo.
He advised the Asians concerning contracts and transactions, in 2000 he travelled to the capitol Pjoengjang for the first time. There he noticed: No Internet. Nowhere.
"Das ist die Chance, Geld zu verdienen", sagte sich der findige Unternehmer. Er gründete die KCC Europe GmbH. Jan Holtermann: "KCC heißt Korea Computer Center."
"That is a chance to make money", said the resourceful entrepreneur. He founded the KCC Europe GmbH. Jan Holtermann: "KCC means Korea Computer Center."
Seine Firma mit 15 Mitarbeitern schloss in diesem Jahr einen Exklusiv-Vertrag mit den Nordkoreanern zur Einrichtung und kommerziellen Nutzung des Internet ab.
This year, his company with 15 employees signed an exclusive contract on installation and commercial use of the Internet with the North Koreans.
2004, genau gesagt am 16. Februar 2004, startet das gemeinsame Projekt nach einem Test-Betrieb. Internet-Zugänge werden dann in ausgewählten Firmen und Regierungsstellen stehen. Nicht in Privathaushalten, für die ohnehin nur regionale Telefonverbindungen möglich sind.
In 2004, on the 16th of February, to be precise, the project started after a testing phase. Internet connections will be available in selected companies and government agencies. Not in private homes, who only have access to regional phone connections anyway.
Holtermann: "Es gibt rund 6000 sehr gut ausgebildete Programmierer. Sie mit Dienstleistungen zu beschäftigen, kostet einen Unternehmer nur kleines Geld."
Holtermann: "There are about 6000 well trained programmers. It doesn't cost much to have them provide their services.
Außerdem entwickeln die Nordkoreaner preiswerte Betriebssysteme für Handys, mobile Datenbank Systeme und Video-Konferenz-Systeme. "Alles preiswert und gut", sagt Holtermann. "Sie gewinnen viele internationale Preise."
The North Koreans also develop inexpensive operating systems for mobile phones, mobile database systems and video conferencing systems. "All inexpensive and good", says Holtermann. "They receive many international awards."
Der Server für den Datentransfer steht in der Botschaft Nordkoreas in der Glinkastraße. Um teure Kosten für die Satellitenverbindu
For a nice little tour of N. Korea, you might visit the report at hrnk.org
A national policy of starvation, overwork, and torture. Newborns murdered on grounds of suspected genetic diversity. Imprisonment of three generation of an offender's family. A lifetime political prisoner population of 200,000 - more than all the US military in Iraq; more than all the people in a small industrial city.
Claudia Rosette wrote a column when the report was released.
If anyone had bothered to scratch the surface of this site a little, you would soon realise that this is a dummy spoof site set up and run by a German businessman who uses it as a "sweetener" to get computing business in North Korea (which is illegal under UN sanctions, I believe).
He claims he is going to wire up North Korea via satellite - bul*shit!
If you really want to provide your personal details to an unscrupulous German, then feel free - you must really like spam.
It really does not deserve any further attention, other than to say "nice marketing ploy fella".
Anyone for an "official" Ossama Bin Laden blog?
Damian, UK
I object! While the press in DPRK is 100% unfree, the south Korean pess is not free at all. My boss went there on a press convention for new media, and the SK journalists were absolutely flabergasted by the ammount of freedom the press we are used to here. Not only can you be arrested (and frequently people do) for saying certain things in the press, but the media is tightly controlled by a consotrium of owners. The only really free media is an online newssite where hundreds of persons, journalists and non-journalists alike, contribute and 20-some persons edit and publish.
As for money, DPRK was actually richer than SK for a long time after the Korean war. They were bypassed in the eraly to mid 80ies since the USSR gave DPRK al lot of aid and trade. So did China.