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How Technology Gets the News Out of North Korea
itwbennett writes "Kim Dong-cheol is a North Korean with 'a double life,' writes the IDG News Service's Martyn Williams in a story on ITworld. 'In addition to his job as a driver for a company, Kim also works as a clandestine reporter for AsiaPress, a Japanese news agency that's taken advantage of the digital electronics revolution to get reports from inside North Korea,' says Williams. 'When we started training journalists in 2003 or 2004, getting cameras into North Korea was a real problem,' said Jiro Ishimaru, chief editor of the news agency, at a Tokyo news conference on Monday. 'Nowadays, within North Korea you are able to have your pick of Sony, Panasonic or Samsung cameras.' The images they're capturing are 'often startling,' and it 'documents a side of the country the government doesn't want the world to see,' says Williams."
Noticed they mentioned Samsung... I wonder why N. Korea is allowing S. Korean brands to be sold. Any ideas?
It's always confirmation bias!
>>"Kim Dong-cheol is a North Korean with 'a double life' Not anymore.
Really do we need to know how this is done? I am hoping this is a red heiring and that they are using other methods to get the SD cards out.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
This is not how these things work, news to me, thank you.
From TFA, emphasis mine:
It was shot on a cheap camera by a man who goes by the pseudonym Kim Dong-cheol, a North Korean with a double life. In addition to his job as a driver for a company, Kim also works as a clandestine reporter for AsiaPress, a Japanese news agency that's taken advantage of the digital electronics revolution to get reports from inside North Korea.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
The interesting part is that they use Chinese cellphone networks, which leak into North Korea at the border, to get the videos out. (The Burmese opposition also does that, connecting to Bengladeshi networks.)
I wonder why China lets that happen, as it would be trivial for them to ban any data coverage in this area and/or report any suspicious activity to the North Korean authorities. Maybe it's a way for them to put some pressure on their North Korean "ally", which has become somewhat of an embarrasment to them lately.
If cell phone coverage goes down, they could still use carrier pigeons to send Flash drives to China or South Korea...
Hello! I'm a disaster waiting to happen!
To answer your question - yes. Lots of us care about North Korea.
It does suck to feel pretty helpless for the most part though there are a number of avenues available to help in small ways. Humans are a varied bunch in a number of ways and while you have one view point, many hold others.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
"Does anyone really care" that you don't care about NK?
TFA is about some specific people who do care about it, enough to risk death, or worse. Maybe that answers your question.
... i don't really care about life in north korea.
sure it sucks for people there, but i'm not living there. except for a few crazy people who try to sneak in, most people want to get out. i can't do anything about the people living there so it's not a priority for me
Much the same could have been said about Afghanistan in the 90s.
Starving to death is so under-rated.
And everything you list as being a cause of the problems of North Korea, other than geographic location are due to the dictatorship.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
The dictatorship is bad, but the economic situation is caused by bad location in the globe, lack of innovation to improve farming/manufacturing, corruption, and bad trading.
“Bad location” that it shares with South Korea and Japan, and lack of innovation, corruption, and bad trading that are mainly due to the dictatorship and its repressive policies. But hey, if it sounds so good to you, why don’t you go live there?
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
North Korea is very opaque, even for China and Russia. China can only go so far in assessing the state of North Korea through its official channels (even if they attach intel officers to their diplomatic mission). It's not like Chinese agents can mingle with the rest of society in North Korea like they could, if posing as "immigrant workers" or "tourists" in South Korea or Japan. This helps them get additional, cheap information.
A place with no advertisements, no light pollution, and few cars sounds good to me.
The dictatorship is bad, but the economic situation is caused by bad location in the globe, lack of innovation to improve farming/manufacturing, corruption, and bad trading.
Are you fucking serious?
Let me give you just one example. A doctor goes to NK to treat cataracts using a simple procedure. He cures the blindness of a hundred people in one sitting. When they take the bandages off, the first thing they do when they can see is rush past the doctor to worship the pictures of the Dear Leader and the Great General and thank them for the gift of sight. Of course, that's what they have to do in the presence of the authorities or any cameras whose contents are likely to be viewed by the authorities.
NK is a tin pot hereditary dictatorship, it is a necrocracy with a dead man as its head of state. It is a surreal world that shows what happens when absolute power gets into the hands of an unstable lunatic. Its people are the most oppressed in the modern world.
"Bad location in the globe" my trunks. It's within easy trading distance of Japan on one side and China on the other.
Jesus wept!
Drill baby drill - on Mars
A place with no advertisements, no light pollution, and few cars sounds good to me.
There are plenty of free caves in the mountains.
The dictatorship is bad, but the economic situation is caused by bad location in the globe
As opposed to South Korea? And other surrounding states?
lack of innovation to improve farming/manufacturing, corruption, and bad trading.
Gee, this couldn't possibly have to do anything with the dictatorship of some inane guy...
Except there's a SOUTH Korea with a rather NICE economic situation, plenty of innovation, a bit cleaner government, and booming trade. It's not all that far.
Well, with the "I can't" attitude, you're right. But if you stopped thinking individually, instead more along the lines of "We can't" - then you'd be lying, because there is a lot that we can do together.
The reason why people make these videos and images isn't so that 1 person on the other side of the border can feel sympathy and try to revolutionize everythings - its for massive appeal to as many people as possible, so that a large group of people might undertake humanitarian efforts.
But - I mean, go ahead with that attitude. Does anyone really care about you? I mean, I've hardly interacted with you, but there isn't anything I can do to change your mind, you aren't a priority. In fact - I can't do anything about anything my own country - my one vote is drowned by millions of others, my recycling efforts are negated by others negligance, and even my job is so replacable by someone else that my contributions to society are really nothing.
If you don't feel particularily humanitarian about something - like you don't want to help the North Koreans, that's absolutely fine. Freedom of opinion. But don't parade it under the guise that "I would if I could".
That's what I learned from this article.
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
afghanistan is Muslim which has a long history of conflict with Christianity. and Afghanistan has a long history of warfare with what we consider Western civilization. Alexander conquered it and it was known as Bactria then. The Romans fought there as well. The British invaded in the 1800's. and of course the Russians.
Korea hasn't had much historical conflict with the western world and the only reason not to like americans is because the government tells them. it's not like there is a history or recent invasion so your grandparents can keep the tension going through family/tribal stories
I care.
Millions of people as slaves to a totalitarian monarchy and millions of men under arms destabilizing the entire region.
If there was an opening of the DPRK, following the refugee crisis and 10-20 years of economic hardship for the Republic of Korea to bring the north into Third World status, the United States, Japan, and RoK would all be able to back forces from the brink of war, downsize military spending and remove a nuclear threat from the region.
The US would be able to fold up an Army division, forward Marine base and most of an Air Force alone.
Furthermore it would be one less thing where the US and Japan oppose the Russian Federation and People's Republic of China.
A place with no advertisements, no light pollution, and few cars sounds good to me.
I think what the AC is really looking for is Sark.
There's one bright spot when it comes to the DMZ. It's home to a lot of species that wouldn't thrive anywhere else.
Well, the starvation is shocking to those of us with an iota of compassion.
Also, some of the ridiculous follies of the government are just plain funny.
Example A: the worlds ugliest permanently unfinished hotel.
Example B: To save on electricity, traffic is directed by police, evidently only women and they only turn counterclockwise. I guess because dear leader only likes it when girls turn counterclockwise.
Before the Iraq war, I was in South Korea. As a soldier, I obviously couldn't actually enter NK, but I have been on the DMZ. The first thing I noticed about NK is that there are no trees. South Korea has forests, but NK appears to be clear cut as far as the eye can see. The NK Guards have soviet-style costumes. If NK weren't so dangerous, the DMZ could pass for a set in a Steven Spielberg film. But the three things NK seems to have in abundance (at least as seen from the DMZ) are oversized flags, martialistic music and Guard Towers. From the DMZ, North Korea looks like the biggest prison in the world. I am glad someone is sneaking cameras into the country and recruiting journalists, because the world seems to be willfully ignorant about how bad the situation is in NK. Hopefully NK will eventually peacefully implode, like East Germany, but the Kim family and his Cronies are enriching themselves at the expense of the Korean People, so they probably won't go without a fight. Maybe we'll get lucky and the North Koreans will deal with the Kim family the same way the Romanians took care of the Ceauescu family.
http://www.vbs.tv/watch/the-vice-guide-to-travel/vice-guide-to-north-korea-1-of-3
When I saw this, it changed my perception (in a bad way) of just how messed up north korea is.
it's not like there is a history or recent invasion so your grandparents can keep the tension going through family/tribal stories
Doesn't the Korean War count as recent?
Prov 9:8 Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you.
No, they fought for what they thought was a better life and were misled and betrayed by their leaders.
one war in 1959-1959
compare that to afghanistan. constant invasions.
it's always the little cultural things that amaze me. in the US the doctors say don't feed a child if they say no. my inlaws and my grandparents' generation believe in stuffing a kid till they burst and that a healthy child is obese by US standards. finally i figured it out. if you look at the last few hundred years of history in the USSR where i'm from there was always a war and/or a famine where 10% - 20% or more of the population died. so the parents would stuff the kid so if there wasn't enough food the body would live off the stored energy. and almost everyone i meet who had kids after WW2 in the USSR had at least one kid die in the womb or the first few years of life or an abortion due to lack of food
It's inevitabre...! Kim Jong Il: Now you see, the changing of the worrd is inevitabre! Lisa: I'm sorry, it's what? Kim Jong Il: Inevit, inevitabre. Lisa: One more time. Kim Jong Il: [shouts] Inevitabre! Things are inevitabrey going to change! Goddamnit, open your fucking ears!
Let me give you just one example. A doctor goes to NK to treat cataracts using a simple procedure. He cures the blindness of a hundred people in one sitting. When they take the bandages off, the first thing they do when they can see is rush past the doctor to worship the pictures of the Dear Leader and the Great General and thank them for the gift of sight.
Parent is referring to "Inside North Korea", a National Geographic documentary by Lisa Ling. It's on Netflix instant right now. Happened to catch it last night, and it's a rare and interesting view inside the country.
Hell, Esmerelda County, NV is probably a lot easier to get to for most /.ers and nearly as remote.
I can see the fnords!
At my university, the Environmental Science department has offices next to the ROTC staff - I commented on this apparent irony to one of the Environmental Science guys, and he pointed out that a side-effect of military' bases secure zones as wildlife preserves. That effect isn't limited to DMZs per se; here's a local example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_White_Deer
Good job on his part fishing for a connection between two apparently-unrelated things, I do that all the time in other fields.
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
How do you STOP a radio signal? These are ordinary chinese towers to which ordinary chinese telephones connect. That they come from the south instead of the north would not be impossible to block but not a standard on how cellphones work. And why would China?
North Korea isn't just a buffer for them between and the US but also a very nice "You think you got it bad Hong Kong? It can be worse." Any Chinese person who wonders if the Chinese communist regime is repressive only has to look south. It is kinda like Jews in England, a very anti-semitic nation, but compared to the main land, not so bad after all.
North Korea is a bad spot for the entire world but the cold war (that the USSR has for now stopped playing doesn't mean the cold war is over, or did you foolishly believe Reagan?) has kept many a regime that shouldn't be in power.
Do you think the US really wants its soldiers on the border of China (if korea was re-united) and deal with Chinese refugees? It is not so much that any country likes or supports North Korea but changing the status quo is VERY risky and the aftermaths of Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, the collapse of the USSR, Israel, India/Pakistan make the world powers very hesistant to change the borders of the world. So what if millions die, they die all the times. Nobody cares. (And don't think that because you bought/pirated a live aid CD that you did, because nobody needs to starve on this planet if some people didn't hog all the resources. Like me, and I have to admit in my deep dark soul that I don't care if some child dies in Afrika as long as it exports the chocolate and peanuts to feed my fat belly)
But don't think the Chinese government is somehow being nice. They send any refugee they capture back, to certain death without any hesistation. Kinda like the US sending mexicans to a country to a war torn apart by the drugs the same US seems to need.
World politics, very depressing.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
one war in 1959-1959
compare that to afghanistan. constant invasions.
Conversely, the US wasn't involved with constant invasions in to Afghanistan. Yet Afghanistan offered a safe harbor to a group that already had a history of attacking US interests.
Geopolitics are much more complex than a simple scoreboard.
Having said that, the point here is that what happens to others in the world can still affect you. Sometimes dramatically.
Ah, Goldfield... it's no Belmont, but, really, what is?
For more reporting on the opaque world that is North Korea, I recommend the Vice Guide to North Korea. Similar to the reporting in the article, this is a hand-held digital camera video documentary done without government approval, but told by a westerner with only officially approved access. Even so, he manages to convey some of the desolation that is the communist dictatorship. The presentation put on by his hosts in hopes of showing off the might of the North Korean state fully supports the reputation they've earned of being "crazy".
You know you're either trolling or an incredibly dense American urban hipster with no grasp of self-awareness when you decide that "advertisements", "light pollution" and "cars" are infinitely worse than "starvation", "corruption", "bad trading", and "living under the iron-clad rule of a megalomaniac".
You know what's worse than advertisements? Not being able to buy anything because there's nothing to buy. No food, no clothes, no nothing. You know what's worse than light pollution? Not being able to turn the lights on at night. You know what's worse than cars and traffic? An ox cart pulled by a malnourished ox that you're seriously considering turning into food this winter, even though the meat's tougher than nails and it means you'll have to pull your plow by hand next spring. But, hey, it's that or starve.
But, hey, that fixie you were riding on before you posted your nonsense on this thread will totally come in handy in the Middle Ages-meets-zombie apocalypse world you have mapped out in your sociopathic head as an "ideal utopia" for your urban hipster douchebaggery. Good luck with that.
For more "through the looking glass" reporting from North Korea, try the Vice Guide. Similar to Lisa Ling's reporting, but with a more bizarre bent. One must see on the insanity of the regime is the museum of "tribute" from foreign leaders. They've collected all of the stupid little chachkies that various diplomats brought from around the world - plates with state seals, porcelain stuff from the gift shop, whatever - and placed them in a huge under-ground bunker museum. The official position is that these are items of tribute from every leader around the world who recognize that "Dear Leader" is the greatest leader and North Korea is the greatest country. Really.
Much the same could have been said about Afghanistan in the 90s.
Would I be downmodded for pointing out that the total number of Americans killed by Al-qaeda-sponsored terrorists is minuscule compared to the number of them killed by North Korean soldiers?
Not trying to cast aspersions on either group, just saying a lot of people have a pretty whacked sense of perspective.
"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
North Korea government murders so many peoples every day that this just isn't funny.
Such situation can be actually true, and an someone innocent, that has already miserable life will suffer even more now
Linux forever
Life is such grand comedy. Alas, it's tragic, dark comedy...
"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
Things are bad everywhere, it's only the most blind who think they're only bad "over there".
At the same time, it must be noted that although things are bad everywhere, they're not equally bad. When some people say things are far worse "over there", they're right.
"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
Life is funny, once you get past it.
one war in 1959-1959
What? You mean 1950-1953 for the Korean War. And that's after 40 years of Japanese domination from 1905 to 1945.
There's a Polish expression, "The fat got thin and the thin died."
Not trying to cast aspersions on either group, just saying a lot of people have a pretty whacked sense of perspective.
Fair enough point. However, I don't see any significance to my point. What I was trying to point out is that people from distant corners of the world can have an impact on yours; no matter how unlikely one would think it.
The US has essentially failed in tracking down that group, despite all of its prowess and available power. What makes you think the Taliban could have done better?
You know you're either trolling or an incredibly dense American urban hipster with no grasp of self-awareness when you decide that "advertisements", "light pollution" and "cars" are infinitely worse than "starvation", "corruption", "bad trading", and "living under the iron-clad rule of a megalomaniac".
You know what's worse than advertisements? Not being able to buy anything because there's nothing to buy. No food, no clothes, no nothing. You know what's worse than light pollution? Not being able to turn the lights on at night. You know what's worse than cars and traffic? An ox cart pulled by a malnourished ox that you're seriously considering turning into food this winter, even though the meat's tougher than nails and it means you'll have to pull your plow by hand next spring. But, hey, it's that or starve.
But, hey, that fixie you were riding on before you posted your nonsense on this thread will totally come in handy in the Middle Ages-meets-zombie apocalypse world you have mapped out in your sociopathic head as an "ideal utopia" for your urban hipster douchebaggery. Good luck with that.
I resent this post... Don't you know that the American way is to spout off "facts" that you don't have a clue about and be super pretentious about how you're doing your part to make the world better, and if it wasn't for the (conservatives | liberals | whoever disagrees) that just don't get it, we'd have a (socialist | capitalist | name your fantasy land) utopia?
I think you don't appreciate how important self-importance is to our culture... Stop trying to really solve problems and start screaming out all your preconceived notions while blasting dehumanizing labels at anyone that prefers a different flavor of kool-aid...
Al Qaeda was not only in the Taliban's back yard, but there by agreement and in active participation with the Taliban. US forces in the region are a foreign entity in every sense of the word. While it's not a given that the Taliban could root out Al-Qaeda if they wanted to, they are hardly in the same situation as the US.
But again - not the point. I suppose I shouldn't have picked Afghanistan. There are far too many knee-jerk responses associated with it.