North Korea Opens .kp Sites On the Internet
175
eldavojohn writes "What an auspicious day for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea! To commemorate the 65th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, North Korea will no longer depend on Chinese national internet service to reach the outside world — they have their own connection and are hosting sites like the state run media. The article mentions that about a thousand websites are coming online, including services like Skype and Twitter. From where I sit in the United States, I can't seem to get any .kp TLD sites to resolve, but the news is promising if in fact it will bring more information to the information-starved masses of North Korea."
Re:Information-starved masses won't see the intern (Score:5, Informative)
shouldn't have gotten my hopes up :( (Score:5, Informative)
From the effin' article:
"While Internet access is believed to be available to small group of elite members of the ruling party, the rest of the country is not permitted access to outside sources of news." :(
North Korea is a criminal state (Score:5, Informative)
Re:I seriously doubt... (Score:5, Informative)
If you look at the satellite photo of the world at night (http://www.bertc.com/subfour/truth/night2.htm), it's quite easy to see North Korea -- it's the dark space just West of Japan, and north of the very bright lights of South Korea -- the DMZ is a visible line between light and darkness. Just one little spot of light in the whole country, and the rest is darkness.
The average North Korean doesn't have power, and isn't sure they'll have enough food to eat today.
Hooray! (Score:4, Informative)
Now maybe we'll get Voice of Korea (was Radio Pyongyang) streamed on the internets! That's some good agitprop: "Today, Glorious Leader stated that he is pleased at the 3000% increase in rice production announced by the Ministry of Agriculture. The running dog capitalist Western press had no comment on our great achievement." Really! They still broadcast stuff like this. It really doesn't get any better, comedy-wise.
Re:Information-starved masses won't see the intern (Score:5, Informative)
I read somewhere that their radio was permanently tuned to the govt channel. and you couldn't turn it off.
Sorta correct. The radios are pre-tuned to the government station, and then sealed. If you're caught with a radio with its seals broken (i.e. someone opened it up) then you're arrested. This is to prevent people from trying to receive signals from South Korea and/or China. You can, however, turn the radios off.
Re:Information-starved masses won't see the intern (Score:1, Informative)
Radios are sold and pre-set to official frequencies. If you have an imported radio, you are required to have it 'certified' which involves pre-seting it to the official frequencies and having a sticker placed on it so they can tell if its been tampered with to allow 'unofficial' broadcasts. the "organization" may come into your house and conduct inspections on this at any time to ensure it hasnt been tampered with.
TVs are less common, but exist nonetheless. Usually whoever owns a TV lets all their neighbors come by and watch it. Once again, it only gets official channels. VCRs and tapes are quite popular, mainly because when DVDs because wide-spread in China, they were able to buy second-hand VCRs from China for quite cheap.
Re:Information-starved masses won't see the intern (Score:5, Informative)
In the early ninties, a country profile for the Library of Congress estimated that North Korean had about 250,000 television sets and 3.75 million radio sets, all fixed to receive only government broadcasts. Visitors cannot bring a radio into the country.
Radio and TV sets in North Korea are pre-tuned to government stations that pump out a steady stream of propaganda. The state has been dubbed the world's worst violator of press freedom by the media rights body Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
Press outlets and broadcasters - all of them under direct state control - serve up a menu of flattering reports about Kim Jong-il and his daily agenda. North Korea's economic hardships or famines are not reported.
Ordinary North Koreans caught listening to foreign broadcasts risk harsh punishments, such as forced labour. The authorities attempt to jam foreign-based and dissident radio stations.
The "only glimmer of hope", according to RSF, is the "communications black market" on the North Korean-Chinese border. Recordings of South Korean TV soaps and films are said to circulate. North Korea country profile [bbc.co.uk] [Oct 2, 2010]
Re:dig kp. SOA - nothing so far. (Score:2, Informative)
Googling for site:.kp shows two different domains (kcce.kp and friend.com.kp) but nothing resolves here.
If You're Interested, Some Updates from RSF (Score:5, Informative)
The state has been dubbed the world's worst violator of press freedom by the media rights body Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
Huh, you must be referencing an older report. Allow me to bring you up to date on 2010's assessment [rsf.org] of the illustrious Democratic People's Republic of Korea!
Internet: Nothing but a vague rumor
A very limited Intranet has developed, consisting of an email inbox, a few news sites relaying regime propaganda, and a browser providing access to the databank Web pages of the country’s three biggest libraries: the Grand People’s Study House and those of the Kim Il-Sung and Kim Chaek Universities. This Intranet is accessible only by academics, businessmen and high-ranking civil servants who have received special clearance.
Here's to hoping that once that intranet is connected to our internet we see those academics online :)
... there are nation states and there are sad states. I wish there was a non-detrimental way to help the people inside North Korea.
Oh, also, I like how one hour of internet usage in a cafe in North Korea will set you back $8.19 (high even by my cushy American standards) and yet the monthly wage in North Korea is a paltry $17.74. So yeah, go ahead and walk into an internet cafe and blow a month's salary in two hours. I almost feel guilty about bitching about Comcast's $40/month cable internet.
Furthermore Eritrea beat them out in 2009 [rsf.org] leaving them at 174/175 on their worst violators
Re:DPRK ip block info... (Score:2, Informative)
I'll add stuff as I find it...
smtp:
175.45.176.10
175.45.176.11
ftp:
175.45.176.12
J
Re:Information-starved masses won't see the intern (Score:5, Informative)
Perhaps someone can provide some citations to info on what frequencies they're using?
A.M. and shortwave radio technology is not high tech. It wouldn't take much knowledge of electronics to make receivers or frequency converters from parts out of old VCRs or whatever.
Clever hacks are possible too. If they're using the low cost Chinese CFL replacements for incandescent lamps, maybe some could be modified to work at a switching frequency that would allow them to act as an conversion oscillator to shift a desired signal to a vacant supported frequency.
Beyond radio inspections, their government might be able to tell what frequency a standard radio is tuned to by detecting radiation from the oscillator. The oscillator normally is offset by a standard amount from the frequency of the selected signal. (typically + 455 kHz for AM, + 10.7 MHz for FM)
To illustrate the principle, one can tune a typical FM radio to a quiet spot on the top half of the band, and hear the oscillator (silence instead of static) when a second nearby radio is tuned 10.7 MHz lower in frequency. I once read of a college station that went around tracking down listeners and surprised a few knocking on doors and giving them a prize. That's a pretty good gag, but hard to do in areas where the band is very congested. When one is tuned to the upper half of the band, the oscillator may fall on VHF aircraft frequencies. That is why many had those bans on using radios when flying.
Re:DPRK ip block info... (Score:3, Informative)
telnet 175.45.179.67 110
Trying 175.45.179.67...
Connected to 175.45.179.67.
Escape character is '^]'.
+OK Microsoft Exchange 2000 POP3 server version 6.0.4417.0 (email.kp.col.cn) ready.