North Korea

North Korean state television, radio and newspapers have led the grooming drive, urging people to cut their hair short and to dress tidily, the BBC said in a dispatch citing broadcasts from Pyongyang.

Men were asked to have crew cuts with hair growing up to five centimeters (two inches) in a twice-a-month visit to the barber, it said.

http://secure.designerz.com/news-image.php?i=shared/lifestyle/SGE.AAB65.090105183816.photo00.quicklook.default-185x245.jpg
A North Korean soldier combs his hair at the truce village of Panmunjom

Not only health and hygiene but also intelligence was cited by the North Korean media as reasons for the crackdown on appearance.

Pyongyang television noted long hair "consumes a great deal of nutrition" and could thus rob the brain of energy, according to the BBC.

But another serious reason came from state radio which said tidy attire "is important in repelling the enemies' maneuvers to infiltrate corrupt capitalist ideas and lifestyle" in North Korea, it said.

The ruling communist party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, even warned inappropriate appearance under foreign influence could lead to national decay.

"People who wear other's style of dress and live in other's style will become fools and that nation will come to ruin," Rodong was cited as saying.

Some North Korean TV broadcasts adopted a hidden-camera style video of longhaired men on various locations throughout Pyongyang in an unprecedented break with their usual approach.

so we're told, but that's bound to be a generalization, and doesn't get at how such a society sustains itself or functions internally - what do people do all day? is everyone starving to death except for some narrow upper-class echelon of rulers? if things are so horrible, why don't the people rebel? is there any resistance at all, any underground, black market? what is holding everything in place, etc.?

umm....the blood of the proletariat? Guns?

But it does have an esperanto section, unlike KFC's.

Oh absolutely. I still think that--unlike the USSR or China--shit is really, really bad in N. Korea. Someone already linked through this article (the nighttime pic), but it's still worth reading.

you only just now found out about this, strongo?!?

i don't think that's *completely* true. a number of journalists have managed to get in and get some information out despite having to be herded around by government "translators."

i sort of imagine there not being any public dissent, at all. as for private dissent, well... i get the sense that the people of north korea have been fed a very strict regimen of limited info for over 50 years and thus don't really have much sense of the outside world, or other ideologies they could counterpose to that of their nation's. so if there is private dissent i'm guessing it takes a weird intra-ideological form that we wouldn't recognize or be very happy with.

He left to Japan. His wife was kidnapped from Japan in the 1970s along with about a dozen others. She came from a town next to the Japan Sea, and she was abducted by North Korean agents and whisked back to North Korea. It's another completely bizarre episode.

The American was in the army serving in South Korea in the 1960s. He claims that he was afraid of being sent to Vietnam, so defected to the North. The U.S. army convicted him of dissertion a few months ago, and he served a very lenient sentence that was like community service.

He did an interview with Japanese TV and described his life in North Korea in general terms. His most memorable quote was saying, "I lived like a dog." He also blasted the North Korean government for all the obvious reasons.

(ok, I'll stop now)

I assume this is the Harper's piece mentioned upthread. It's a pretty hard read.

http://www.jonhs.net/freemovies/welcome_to_north_korea.htm

This is good - it's from 2001 so some may have already seen it.

also good:

http://www.yhchang.com/CUNNILINGUS_IN_NORTH_KOREA.html

N. Korea Says It Is Holding Reporters

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea confirmed Saturday that it had detained two American journalists on charges of “illegally intruding” into the North through its border with China.

The journalists, Laura Ling, a Chinese-American, and Euna Lee, a Korean-American, both working for Current TV, were on a reporting trip along the border when they were detained by North Korean border guards, according to human rights activists and a South Korean news report. Their colleague, Mitch Koss, and their Chinese guide were reported to have been detained by Chinese border guards.

“A competent organ is now investigating the case,” the North’s official news agency, KCNA, said.

http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/2667/jong.jpg

http://www.smh.com.au/world/north-koreas-kim-jongil-a-skilled-and-ruthless-ruler-20090405-9t1l.html

that's how you dress when you are a 100pts ahead.

That's a solid look I would like to emulate

*takes notes by hand*

yes, JNCOs sir, yes

Cool.

This demonstration at the Defence Development Exhibition was bit intense. Video broadcast today on North Korean TV. pic.twitter.com/zehpI6EAEd

— Martyn Williams (@martyn_williams) October 12, 2021

So I guess our new intercontinental brick missiles won't have the desired effect

You don't go to war with the bricks you want, you go to war with the bricks you have.

this will hold me over until the new jackass movie comes out

Just being the usual wet blanket here, but I don't think the point of that demonstration was that brick-breaking is a useful military skill.

You're saying you want to fight that guy? If North Korea had a dozen more dudes that tough we might as well just surrender right now.

you got my point, while missing my point

That look from Kim at 0:38: "Tssst, that guy thinks he's so tough... he's not all that."

Lol Josh giving Kim exactly the reaction he wants

lol that guy going aggro was as choreographed as a Jackie Chan movie. But I do love the idea of Kim thinking anyone would really find that intimidating. Like, oh shit, this guy broke a concrete bar with a flying headbutt! Better not mess with North Korea.

would have been better if it was Kim doing the head butting though.

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/BareBaggyLiger-max-1mb.gif

imo, the NK military putting on that show in front of Kim was not meant to intimidate SK or the USA nearly so much as to show their dear leader how unflinchingly loyal they are to him. they are saying, "see how we will gladly butt through walls with our foreheads and have rods broken across our backs for you." which explains why Kim was kind of bored by it, since that kind of fealty is demonstrated to him constantly.

Yet also demanded by him constantly. Be careful what you wish for, I guess!

But I think the display is part of a larger PR campaign about NK's military might.. like all these boss new gadgets:

https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/north-korea-shows-off-new-weapons-at-mil-idUSRTXIGLY4

Just wait until North Korea reveals it's got the atomic elbow.

The way they loop the applause in all these videos is a lot like laying down in glass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxXZF60EPdM
lil palate cleanser

this is just bollocks isn't it https://t.co/yDEYlL0LGo

— jamie k (@jkbloodtreasure) November 25, 2021

This looks like an FBI photo of a Serbian gangster outside his stone mason shop in Wicker Park, 1978 @ericzieg https://t.co/Jdwa0D0j8n

— Justin Sherin (@wychstreet) March 10, 2022

Surprisingly high production value for NK:

BREAKING: North Korea's state-run television shows edited footage of Kim Jong Un guiding the test-launch of what the country referred to as the Hwasong-17 ICBM.

Latest story: https://t.co/belL7EdPUl
(Video: KCTV) pic.twitter.com/APifRhtJVr

— NK NEWS (@nknewsorg) March 25, 2022

All I can think of is "Elvis impersonator, with missles"

The bit with the watches can't be real!

Well having been extensively exposed to NK video productions when visiting back in 2015 (?), it looks completely legit to me, just with fancier cinematography and better picture quality.

Well having been extensively exposed to NK video productions when visiting back in 2015 (?), it looks completely legit to me, just with fancier cinematography and better picture quality.

I seriously can't stop watching it.

If they are calling it an ICBM, the implication is that it can reach other continents. I suppose they could be cheating slightly, if it can only reach Australia.

NK is quite a bit closer to North America than to Australia, though. "Only" the remoter bits of Alaska, granted.

Ok

I CANT BREATHE 😭😭😭😭😭😭

she had to come up with something real quick pic.twitter.com/6uVnDX1QDY

— Dame Fagatha Christie, PhD (@FagathaGagatha) May 10, 2023

We had to buy replacement badminton shoes or a racquet or something, and the salesman told us they weren't available anymore. We asked what happened, and he said the company got busted working with North Korea or something!

A person who said they witnessed the event and was part of the same tour group told CBS News they had just visited one of the buildings at the site when "this man gives out a loud 'ha ha ha,' and just runs in between some buildings."

I guess someone still thinks the place is hilarious.

Defecting soldiers used to have some propaganda value during the Cold War, and a few settled down in the North. But I imagine now this is more of a headache than anything else for the North.. the guy probably doesn't have a lot of intelligence value, but maybe some diplomatic value if they want something from us. But I don't think he's going to be pampered like they were in the past

It was either this or go back to Texas.

Lol

I wish they would let Google street view cars in there

🇷🇺🇰🇵 Russia's President Putin waves goodbye to his friend, North Korea's Kim Jung Un. pic.twitter.com/EP5NDHXx2v

— BRICS News (@BRICSinfo) June 20, 2024

Awwwwwww, that's nice.

New season of some show just dropped...

Nashville man arrested for running “laptop farm” to get jobs for North Koreans
https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/08/nashville-man-arrested-for-running-laptop-farm-to-get-jobs-for-north-koreans/

Federal authorities have arrested a Nashville man on charges he hosted laptops at his residences in a scheme to deceive US companies into hiring foreign remote IT workers who funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars in income to fund North Korea’s weapons program.

The scheme, federal prosecutors said, worked by getting US companies to unwittingly hire North Korean nationals, who used the stolen identity of a Georgia man to appear to be a US citizen. Under sanctions issued by the federal government, US employers are strictly forbidden from hiring citizens of North Korea. Once the North Korean nationals were hired, the employers sent company-issued laptops to Matthew Isaac Knoot, 38, of Nashville, Tennessee, the prosecutors said in court papers filed in the US District Court of the Middle District of Tennessee. The court documents also said a foreign national with the alias Yang Di was involved in the conspiracy.

The arrest comes two weeks after security-training company KnowBe4 said it unknowingly hired a North Korean national using a fake identity to appear as someone eligible to fill a position for a software engineer for an internal IT AI team. KnowBe4’s security team soon became suspicious of the new hire after detecting “anomalous activity,” including manipulating session history files, transferring potentially harmful files, and executing unauthorized software.

The North Korean national was hired even after KnowBe4 conducted background checks, verified references, and conducted four video interviews while he was an applicant. The fake applicant was able to stymie those checks by using a stolen identity and a photo that was altered with AI tools to create a fake profile picture and mimic the face during video conference calls.

In May federal prosecutors charged an Arizona woman for allegedly raising $6.8 million in a similar scheme to fund the weapons program. The defendant in that case, Christina Marie Chapman, 49, of Litchfield Park, Arizona, and co-conspirators compromised the identities of more than 60 people living in the US and used their personal information to get North Koreans IT jobs across more than 300 US companies.

The FBI and Departments of State and Treasury issued a May 2022 advisory alerting the international community, private sector, and public of a campaign underway to land North Korean nationals IT jobs in violation of many countries’ laws. US and South Korean officials issued updated guidance in October 2023 and again in May 2024. The advisories include signs that may indicate North Korea IT worker fraud and the use of US-based laptop farms.

The North Korean IT workers using Knoot's laptop farm generated revenue of more than $250,000 each between July 2022 and August 2023. Much of the funds were then funneled to North Korea’s weapons program, which includes weapons of mass destruction, prosecutors said.

Knoot faces charges, including wire fraud, intentional damage to protected computers, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy to cause the unlawful employment of aliens. If found guilty, he faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.

lol my organization uses knowbe4

this warship launch from earlier today didn't seem to go as intended:

https://i.imgur.com/3pRWTyS.png

Can’t really figure out what’s coming in there. It looks like a pile of Legos.

What’s going on

It appears they tried to disguise the fuckup by hiding it under blue tarps???

I mean that is definitely something I would do but. . .

That's exactly what they did--the ship has keeled over onto its side.

Literally an extremely poor attempt of a "cover-up". I really would not want to be one of the people who are responsible for the travesty, or anyone blameworthy enough to end up getting liquidated by aircraft gun or to the gulags at best.

Yeah lol and then porcine out for the fall guys

Pour one

prefer the first draft tbh

I know there are a million NK docs, but we just saw "Beyond Utopia," mostly about a family defecting, and it was something else, because not only is there footage of the actual escape - over mountains, across rivers, through jungles - somehow the filmmakers got hidden camera footage of life in NK. Needless to say, it's sometimes pretty disturbing stuff, but amazing that it was captured.