Slashdot Mirror
North Korea Advertises Military Hardware On Twitter and YouTube, Defying Sanctions (vice.com)
eatmorekix shares a report from Motherboard: Glocom, a front company for the government of North Korea that sells sanctioned equipment, isn't giving up. In 2017, before YouTube quietly removed Glocom's channel, the company was advertising missile navigation and other military products on the video platform. But Glocom has returned. It setup a new channel, and also had a presence on Twitter, until Motherboard flagged Glocom's accounts to social media companies. The news not only signals the perseverance of parts of the North Korean's money-making enterprises, but also a slice of the content moderation issues that tech platforms constantly face. Glocom "is using them as platforms to market sanctions violating products," Shea Cotton, research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, and who has a particular focus on North Korea, told Motherboard in an email. A United Nations report says that Glocom is run by North Korean intelligence agents, even though it pitches itself as a Malaysian company.
Cotton said "this company continues to operate openly. Most DPRK [Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea] fronts, when exposed, usually fold or at the very least shut down and move their operations to another country and re-open under a new name. This one hasn't done that. We've seen them try to create this spin off brand called 'FACOM' and sell a few of their products under it but as you've seen their main brand is still thriving apparently."
Cotton said "this company continues to operate openly. Most DPRK [Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea] fronts, when exposed, usually fold or at the very least shut down and move their operations to another country and re-open under a new name. This one hasn't done that. We've seen them try to create this spin off brand called 'FACOM' and sell a few of their products under it but as you've seen their main brand is still thriving apparently."
Sanctions make it illegal to buy from them, but they don't make it illegal for them to try to sell. The real question is, who is buying all that hardware?
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Do you suppose the NSA doesn't track who goes to these sites, orders product etc? Granted, you are not tracking the villains at the top of the food chain, but hey, take the easy wins when you can get them, right?
Anyone who didn't sign the UN treaty on the sanctions. Probably Iran, Myanmar, Cuba, etc...
My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
LOL.. You DO realize that they really do have laws in DPRK lots of laws in fact, what they lack is freedom access to information.
Remember, they just re-elected Kim's party in an overwhelming majority and are in the process of rounding up anybody who voted the wrong way and shipping them off, along with their immediate family and any distant relatives who are suspect, to the "reeducation camps" where you make little rocks out of big ones.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Missile technology is being sold on the facetweets. What a time to be alive.
You're an arrogant prick without much knowledge. But I guess you feel the Eisenhower / Kennedy / Johnson / Nixon / Ford / Carter / Reagan / Bush / Clinton / Bush / Obama strategy worked well. It failed.
66 years of stalemate that resulted in NK building nuclear weapons. Congrats on that, asshole. You're the champion of failure and mediocrity.
Trump may very well fail. But so did every one of his predecessors. At least a new tactic was tried.
Fuck off.
Twitter? Isn't this kind of thing more appropriate for Etsy?
"Handmade by local artisans, not by a big corporation. Our carbon footprint is 5x lower than other countries in the region."
Short of waving his pecker in Donald Trump's face, is there anything more blatant Kim Jong Un could to to show the US he will do whatever he likes, and because he has nukes, there's sweet FA the US can do about it?
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
He was not on the ballot. It was in the news.
They only fake-elect a parliament, and he decided he's not going to get stuck wearing that hat anymore. His sister ran, though.
It would be an insult to suggest that Rocket Boy had to stand for election for his main job. The parliament merely observes his greatness periodically.
I'm guessing North Korea doesn't keep tabs on exactly who doesn't care about UN treaties. Rebel and guerilla groups, terrorist organizations, shady governments - there are all kinds of potential customers for their weapons. I don't think they particularly care to whom they sell.
My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
Anyone with a military background able to comment on the validity of the parent post?