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Telecommunications in North Korea refers to the communication services available in North Korea. North Korea has not fully adopted mainstream Internet technology due to its isolationist policies.
Sneakernet, also called sneaker net, is an informal term for the transfer of electronic information by physically moving media such as magnetic tape, floppy disks, optical discs, USB flash drives or external hard drives between computers, rather than transmitting it over a computer network. The term, a tongue-in-cheek play on net(work) as in Internet or Ethernet, refers to walking in sneakers as the transport mechanism. Alternative terms may be floppy net, train net, or pigeon net.
The mass media in North Korea is amongst the most strictly controlled in the world. The constitution nominally provides for freedom of speech and the press. However, the government routinely disregards these rights, and seeks to mold information at its source. A typical example of this was the death of Kim Jong-il, news of which was not divulged until two days after it occurred. Kim Jong-un, who replaced his father as the leader, has largely followed in the footsteps of both his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, and his father. However, new technologies are being made more freely available in the country. State- run media outlets are setting up websites, while mobile phone ownership in the country has escalated rapidly. “There is no country which monopolizes and controls successfully the internet and information as North Korea does,” said Kang Shin-sam, an expert on North Korean technology and co-head of the International Solidarity for Freedom of Information in North Korea, a nonprofit based in South Korea. North Korea now has about four million mobile-phone subscribers—roughly one-sixth of the population and four times the number in 2012, according to an estimate by Kim Yon-ho, a senior researcher at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies.
Songun is the "military-first" policy of North Korea, prioritizing the Korean People's Army in the affairs of state and allocation of resources. "Military-first" as a principle guides political and economic life in North Korea, with "military-first politics" dominating the political system; "a line of military-first economic construction" acting as an economic system; and "military-first ideology" serving as the guiding ideology.
Tourism in North Korea is tightly controlled by the North Korean government. All tourism is organized by one of several state-owned tourism bureaus, including Korea International Travel Company (KITC), Korean International Sports Travel Company (KISTC), Korean International Taekwondo Tourism Company (KITTC) and Korean International Youth Travel Company (KIYTC). The majority of tourists are Chinese nationals: one 2019 estimate indicated that up to 120,000 Chinese tourists had visited North Korea in the previous year, compared to fewer than 5,000 from Western countries.
Formerly a single nation that was annexed by Japan in 1910, the Korean Peninsula has been divided into North Korea and South Korea since the end of World War II on 2 September 1945. The two governments were founded in the two regions in 1948, leading to the consolidation of division. The two countries became opposite and engaged in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953 which ended in an armistice agreement but without a peace treaty. North Korea is a one-party Socialist state run by the Kim dynasty. South Korea was formerly governed by a succession of military dictatorships, save for a brief one-year democratic period from 1960 to 1961, until thorough democratization in 1987, after which direct elections were held. Both nations claim the entire Korean peninsula and outlying islands. Both nations joined the United Nations in 1991 and are recognized by most member states. Since the 1970s, both nations have held informal diplomatic dialogues in order to ease military tensions. In 2000, President Kim Dae-jung became the first President of South Korea to visit North Korea, 55 years after the peninsula was divided.
A portable DVD player is a mobile, battery powered DVD player in the format of a mobile device. Many recent players play files from USB flash drives and SD cards.
Censorship in North Korea ranks among some of the most extreme in the world, with the government able to take strict control over communications. North Korea is ranked at the bottom of Reporters Without Borders' annual Press Freedom Index, occupying the last place in 2020.
Internet access is available in North Korea, but is only permitted with special authorization. It is primarily used for government purposes, and also by foreigners. The country has some broadband infrastructure, including fiber optic links between major institutions. Online services for most individuals and institutions are provided through a free domestic-only network known as Kwangmyong, with access to the global Internet limited to a much smaller group.
Kwangmyong is a North Korean "walled garden" national intranet service opened in the early 2000s. The Kwangmyong intranet system stands in contrast to the global Internet in North Korea, which is available to fewer people in the country.
Propaganda is widely used and produced by the government of North Korea (DPRK). Most propaganda is based on the Juche ideology and on the promotion of the Workers' Party of Korea.
Park Sang-hak is a North Korean democracy activist and is the chairman of Fighters for a Free North Korea.
Media coverage of North Korea is hampered by an extreme lack of reliable information. There are a number of reasons for this lack of information.
Yeonmi Park is a North Korean defector and activist whose family fled from North Korea to China in 2007 and settled in South Korea in 2009, before moving to the United States in 2014. Her family turned to black-market trading during North Korea's economic collapse in the 1990s. Her father was sent to a labor camp for smuggling. They fled to China, where Park and her mother fell into the hands of human traffickers and she was sold into slavery before escaping to Mongolia. She is now an advocate for victims of human trafficking in China and works to promote human rights in North Korea and around the globe.
Fighters for a Free North Korea (FFNK) is an organization formed in South Korea that is known for periodically launching balloons carrying human rights and pro-democracy literature, DVDs, transistor radios and USB flash drives from South Korea into North Korea. Over two million such balloons have been launched. The balloons, which generally reach their destination area after three to four hours in the air, are timed to release their materials in the Pyongyang area.
North Korean People's Liberation Front is a militant paramilitary North Korean defectors' organization, formed by former defecting members of the Korean People's Army, planning to overthrow the North Korean government. It is based in Seoul, South Korea.
Korean Central Television is a television service operated by the Korean Central Broadcasting Committee, a state-owned broadcaster in North Korea. It is broadcast terrestrially via the Pyongyang TV Tower in Moranbong-guyok, Pyongyang, streamed via the government-run internet television service Manbang, and also uplinked via satellite.
Balloon propaganda campaigns in Korea include both North and South Korean propaganda leaflet campaigns through the use of balloons as a distribution method since the Korean War. A variety of other contents have also been included with the balloons. Originally, these campaigns were organized by the governments and militaries of the Korean states. Contemporarily, however, they are mainly organized by South Korean non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that regularly involve themselves in balloon release events that aim to send materials censored in North Korea, as well as various other goods, to the North Korean people.
Kim Seong-min is a North Korean democracy activist and is the director of Free North Korea Radio.
References
- ↑ Ziccardi, Giovanni (2012-09-28). Resistance, Liberation Technology and Human Rights in the Digital Age. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 9789400752764.
- ↑ Abbott, Jason (2004-01-01). The Political Economy of the Internet in Asia and the Pacific: Digital Divides, Economic Competitiveness, and Security Challenges. Praeger. ISBN 9780275980214.
- ↑ "The Transformation of Cyberactivism and Democratic Governance in Korea: The Role of Technology, Civil Society, and Institutions" . Retrieved 22 April 2017.
- ↑ Kim, Hyuk-Rae; Kim, Hyŏng-nae (2013). State-centric to Contested Social Governance in Korea: Shifting Power. Routledge. ISBN 9780415587457.
- ↑ "North Korean defector-activists step up propaganda war". Financial Times. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
- ↑ "The people flying balloons to North Korea" . Retrieved 22 April 2017.
- ↑ "Activists are using drones to rain flash drives full of TV shows on North Korea". Digital Trends. 26 May 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
- ↑ Park, Madison. "Activists: Drones drop forbidden media into N. Korea". CNN. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
- ↑ Miller, Judith (7 January 2016). "What can US do about North Korea? Six options after 'hydrogen bomb' test". Fox News. Retrieved 23 April 2017.