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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 some restrictions on foreign interventions.
The Korean conflict is an ongoing conflict based on the division of Korea between North Korea and South Korea, both of which claim to be the sole legitimate government of all of Korea. During the Cold War, North Korea was backed by the Soviet Union, China, and other allies, while South Korea was backed by the United States, United Kingdom, and other Western allies.
The Korean Demilitarized Zone is a heavily militarized strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula near the 38th parallel north. The demilitarized zone (DMZ) is a border barrier that divides the peninsula roughly in half. It was established to serve as a buffer zone between the sovereign states of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea under the provisions of the Korean Armistice Agreement in 1953, an agreement between North Korea, China, and the United Nations Command.
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 has about four million mobile-phone subscribers circa 2022—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.
Tourism in North Korea is tightly controlled by the North Korean government. All tourism is organized by 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 was divided into occupation zones since the end of World War II on 2 September 1945. The two sovereign countries were founded in the North and South of the peninsula in 1948, leading to the formal division. Despite the separation, both have claimed sovereignty over all of Korea in their constitutions and both have used the name "Korea" in English. The two countries 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 state run by the Kim family. 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.
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.
North Korea ranks among some of the most extreme censorship in the world, with the government able to take strict control over communications. North Korea sits at one of the lowest places of Reporters Without Borders' 2024 Press Freedom Index, ranking 177 out of the 180 countries investigated.
Internet access is available in North Korea, but is only permitted with special authorization. It is primarily used for government purposes, and 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.
Propaganda is widely used and produced by the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Most propaganda is based on the Juche ideology, veneration of the ruling Kim family, the promotion of the Workers' Party of Korea, and hostilities against both the Republic of Korea and the United States.
Park Sang-hak is a North Korean democracy activist and is the chairman of Fighters for a Free North Korea. Park Sang-hak is a hard-line anti-communist and supporter of the conservative movement in South Korea.
Media coverage of North Korea is hampered by an extreme lack of reliable information, coupled with an abundant number of sensationalist falsehoods. There are a number of reasons for this lack of information and incorrect stories.
Fighters for a Free North Korea 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 South Korean militant paramilitary organization consisting of North Korean defectors, formed by former defecting members of the Korean People's Army, planning to overthrow the North Korean government. It is based in Seoul.
Balloon propaganda campaigns in Korea include both North and South Korean propaganda leaflet campaigns, with 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.
After the Korean War, 333 South Korean people detained in North Korea as prisoners of war chose to stay in North Korea. During subsequent decades of the Cold War, some people of South Korean origin defected to North Korea as well. They include Roy Chung, a former U.S. Army soldier who defected to North Korea through East Germany in 1979. Aside from defection, North Korea has been accused of abduction in the disappearances of some South Koreans.
Cuba–North Korea relations are the bilateral relations between Cuba and North Korea.
Kim Seong-min is a North Korean democracy activist and is the director of Free North Korea Radio.
The following is a list of events from the year 2024 in North Korea.
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. 28 August 2016. 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 (25 May 2016). "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.