Features of North Korea

Pyong Yang - Image by adaptorplug via FlickUp Korea







Articles general

• Celebrating the 65th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea - Photo coverage
  
• North Korean jokes
  

Articles news & other

• Sotoji -- small private plot - "... it seems clear that private food production makes a major contribution to North Korea’s food supply today." - Andrei Lankov in the Korean Times - April 24, 2011
  
• DPRK sees massive forest fires for agriculture - "NASA released this satellite image (dated April 13, 2011) of the DPRK that shows a number of forest fires" - North Korean Economy Watch
  
• Propaganda Posters for the Spring Farming Season - "Today, Chosun Central News Agency (KCNA) released images of posters to encourage people to get ready to work hard in the spring farming season." - Daily NK - March 24, 2011
  
• Narco-capitalism grips North Korea By Andrei Lankov - "... government-sponsored narcotic production in North Korea seemed to have decreased considerably. At the same time, the statement made clear that the private production of drugs was on the rise." - Asia Times Online - March 18, 2011
  
• N. Korea bans people from raising pet dogs - "The North Korean authorities banned the raising of pet dogs for food as the practice has spread to apartments in Pyongyang..." - The Korea Times - March 4, 2011
  
• Communist Birthright - Class differences in North Korea, "North Korea has much in common with an aristocratic feudal state, where the descendants of the ruling dynasty, and those who once rode with the founding warlord, enjoy privileges as their birthright. " - The Korea Times - Jan 13, 2008
  
• Goodbye Lenin, Hello Dangun - How communism in North Korea did not adopt internationalism, a trait of early communism, but became nationalist and now reveres Korean's legendary founder, Dangun - The Korea Times - Dec 28, 2008
  
• How N.Koreans Communicate with the Outside World - "The most common conduit is North Korean traders who frequently travel to China. They store the pictures and videos on USB memory sticks and bring them out with them." - The Chosun Ilbo - Feb 25, 2011
  
• Pyongyang’s overseas business agents - "Although they feel responsible for the future of their country, they generally work alone in a foreign land. Their family members are kept “hostage,” and they must resort to secretive tactics to bypass international sanctions to feed their leaders’ voracious appetite for Japanese products." - North Korean Economy Watch - Feb 13, 2011
  
• 'Socialist realism' - Art in North Korea - "When North Koreans talk about their arts, they never fail to mention that it follows the traditions of ``socialist realism.” But what is ``socialist realism” in visual arts?" - Feb 13, 2011
• N. Korea dissent on rise: US study - "...North Koreans are increasingly skeptical of their leaders as a burgeoning marketplace and foreign media broaden their worldview..." - AFP - Jan 31, 2011
  
• North Korea: where a hat is not just a hat - Kim Jong-un's headgear, as it turns out, is a compelling piece of political intelligence. - Christian Science Monitor - Jan 31, 2011
  
• Kim Jong-il's Oldest Son Slams Hawks in the N.Korean Regime - The Chosun Ilbo - Jan 31, 2011
  
• Security agents raise money from defector families - North Korean Economy Watch - Jan 27, 2011
  
• Casino Luring in Bored North Koreans - "High level North Korean cadres are visiting a casino in the far northeast of the country, disguising their identities so as to avoid government regulations..." - Daily NK - Jan 27, 2011
• Chinese travel agency offers new North Korea Tours to study Juche - "... Juche is a combination of communism and extreme nationalism which aims to isolate its people and maintain the regime." - The Korea Herald - Jan 26, 2011
  
• North Korea Suffers Record Cold Amid Coal Shortage - "Most factories and businesses having ceased production, the people have gone to farming villages to help plow and labor in the fields." - One Free Korea - Jan 26, 2011
• "According to this report (in Korean), the Army has begun sending soldiers home on leave to bring back food." - One Free Korea - Jan 25, 2011
  
• "North Korea's leader Kim Jong Il held talks with an Egyptian telecoms magnate whose company set up and operates an advanced mobile phone network in the impoverished communist nation in a rare meeting with a foreign business executive." - The Sydney Morning Herald - Jan 24, 2011
  
• North Korea Party Charter Revision Details Power Shift - "North Korea has revised the charter of its only political party, apparently to ensure a smooth transition of power from father to son in the reclusive communist state." - VOA - Jan 22, 2011
  
• The Great Wall of Rason: Kim Jong Il’s Grand Sell-Out - An investigation and analysis of the Rajin-Sonbong Free Economic and Trade Zone in the isolated northeast corner of [North Korea], near the borders with Russia and China. - One Free Korea - Jan 18, 2010
  
• North Korea spends about a third of income on military: group - Reuters US Online Report World News - Jan 18, 2011
  
• Exhibitions: Art or propaganda? North Korea exhibit in Moscow - "Chubby-cheeked, hard-working and joyous but also ready for military action is how North Korea presents its people at a major show of official art from the secretive state in Moscow." - Reuters - Jan 14, 2011
• North Korea builds up online presence: expert - "North Korea appears to be waking up to the power of the Internet and wants its own place on the global network," - Inform - Jan 14, 2011
  
• North Korea's palace spray - "The leaders of North Korea have always been fond of their palaces" - heraldsun.com.au - Jan 1, 2011

Opinion

• (262) Goodbye Lenin, Hello Dangun - "The early communists were passionately internationalist and anti-nationalist... An important turning point was the alleged discovery of the tomb of Tangun,... North Korea is by no means a party state anymore" - Andrei Lankov in The Korea Times - December 28, 2008
• Communist Birthright - North Korea is not the embodiment of social equality - The Korea Times - Jan 13, 2008

Blogs

• Crossing the North Korean border - Someone travels from China to North Korea and writes his story, with pictures

Music
Song of General Kim Il-Sung - click to listen to this song on the official YouTube channel of the DPRK (they don't allow videos to be embedded)See also

• China's influence on Korea
• Oppression in North Korea

Videos

• A Secret Look Into The City Of Pyongyang, North Korea - "... via a ’secret video’ taken by photographer Steve Gong. With constant military surveillance in North Korea very little images of everyday life are released to the global public." - video - March 18, 2011
  
• Corruption North Korea - 2008 (4:17 min)
  

• Welcome to North Korea - "A grotesquely surreal look at the all-too-real conditions in modern-day North Korea. Dutch filmmaker Peter Tetteroo and his associate Raymond Feddema spent a week in and around the North Korean capital of Pyongyang." - 2003, 53:15 min

Websites

• DPRK (North Korea) YouTube channel - most videos are still texts, some give songs or reports of main festivities
• Naenara - North Korean website
  
• North Korean news website
• North Korea uncovered (Google Earth) - "an extensive mapping of North Korea’s economic, cultural, political, and military infrastructures." - North Korean Economy Watch
• Rimjin-gang - "Rimjin-gang: The first-ever independent publication in the world written directly by people of North Korea. Compiled by ASIAPRESS International." - Chosunilbo article about Rimjingang
  
• The Official Webpage of The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)

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