N. Korea lectures on the adverse effects of smartphones A North Korean smartphone ad/ Korea Times fileBy Yi Whan-wooRodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, published an article recently on the adverse effects of smartphones. The paper suggests the reclusive state worries about the misuse of smartphones as much as the outside world does.In a Dec. 18 commentary, the newspaper referred to France’s ban on the use of smartphones in classrooms, and said many countries are suffering from classroom chaos due to students’ use of mobile devices.Quoting a teacher from an unidentified country, the paper said excessive use of cellphones reduces students’ motivation to study and leads them to waste time.“What’s worse is that erotic texts, fiction and videos, as well as violent electronic games, are spreading through mobile phones without limits,” the paper said. “It means mobile phones are used as tools to instill unhealthy ideas into the minds of minors.”The number of mobile phones in use in North Korea is estimated at around 6 million among its populatioDec 31, 2018By Yi Whan-woo
More N. Korean workers deported from Russia North Korean workers take a rest at a railroad construction site in Vladivostok, Russia. / Korea Times fileBy Yi Whan-wooMore North Korean workers in Vladivostok, Russia face the risk of being deported, as Russia observes the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) sanctions aimed at cutting off the flow of foreign currency to the North.The sanctions ban any country from authorizing new visas for North Koreans working overseas, and prevent the Kim Jong-un regime from pocketing their wages to develop nuclear weapons.It also calls for the repatriation of workers by the end of 2019.Under such circumstances, the number of North Korean workers has declined sharply, according to sources familiar with the matter.“We used to have a large number of North Korean workers but you don’t see many these days,” a source told Radio Free Asia (RFA) in December.Citing his Russian friend at a construction site, the second source said it takes longer to finish construction projects nowadays because North Korean laborers, many of them hired as construction workers, have been leaving.“There isDec 31, 2018By Yi Whan-woo
China to toughen N. Korea border control with 'state-of-the-art' scanners The Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge connecting Dandong in China and Sinuiju in North Korea, has been a key route for bilateral trade. / Korea Times fileBy Yi Whan-woo China will be using “state-of-the-art” scanners to better crack down on smuggling along its border with North Korea, according to sources familiar with the matter.The sources said the new scanners will replace x-ray scanners that have failed to detect contraband hidden in boxes or between legally imported goods. They did not elaborate on further details concerning the new scanner.“New modern cargo inspection equipment is being installed at the entrance to customs here,” a source from the Chinese border city of Dandong recently told Radio Free Asia (RFA). “They’re going to use it to inspect cargo trucks from North Korea ... It’s going to be difficult for anything illegal to slip through the cracks.”The tighter border control comes as the United States and the United Nations step up sanctions aimed at strangling North Korea’s economy and halting its nuclear program.Dec 31, 2018By Yi Whan-woo
Birth anniversary of Kim Jong-un's grandmother Birth anniversary of Kim Jong-un's grandmother: North Korea hosted a special ice hockey to commemorate the 101st birth anniversary of Kim Jong-suk, late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's mother, Dec. 24. Korean Central News Agency. She was an anti-Japanese guerilla and the second wife of North Korean founding leader Kim Il-sung. / Korean Central News AgencyDec 31, 2018By Yi Whan-woo
N. Korea propagandizes religious freedom This captured image shows a pastor delivering a sermon during a Christmas service at Bongsu Church, one of a handful churches in North Korea. / YonhapBy Yi Whan-wooNorth Korea has shown photos and footage of its people joining Christmas church services, in a rare move seen as an effort to speed up inter-Korean reconciliation.The photos released on Dec. 27 by “Ryomyong,” a website aimed at reconciliation, showed people praying and celebrating Christmas at Bongsu Church, one of the North’s two Protestant churches, and at Changchung Cathedral, a nominal cathedral of the Roman Catholic bishop.“We pray a star of peace guides every step so that the reconciliatory mood formed on the Korean Peninsula is not disrupted by followers of Satan,” said a ranking official at the Korean Christian Federation, Pyongyang’s Protestant body.A pastor, also a federation member, mentioned the three 2018 summits — in April, May and September — between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in and underscored the “Korean Dec 31, 2018By Yi Whan-woo
Chinese travel agents promote N. Korea ski tour Masikryong Ski ResortBy Yi Whan-wooChinese travel agents are pushing a sales campaign for Masikryong Ski Resort, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s luxury tourist project in the eastern coastal city of Wonsan.A Chinese-language poster obtained by Daily NK, an online news website on Pyongyang, promotes a December-to-February tour package for the resort.The three-night package costs 4,580 yuan ($665) for adults and 3,580 yuan for children. The four-night option is 5,580 yuan for adults and 4,180 yuan for children.It leaves from Shenyang every Thursday and stops by Pyongyang.Masikryong Ski Resort was less popular with Chinese tourists compared to other North Korean sites because of high costs and safety concerns, sources said.But tour operators hope the thaw in Beijing-Pyongyang ties will turn things around, especially considering Kim wants to better promote the resort.“The snow quality at Masikryong is supposed to be much better than at the ski resorts in China,” sources said. “Of course the facilities and services at ski resorts in South Korea and Japan are terrDec 31, 2018By Yi Whan-woo
Pyongyang media emphasizes inter-Korean peace and prosperity By Jung Da-minNorth Korea's propaganda media Monday emphasized that 2018 has been a new era of peace and prosperity on the Korean peninsula."This year has been a tumultuous year for the North-South relationship, that had suffered from aggravation of hostilities and confrontation for a long time, has experienced a dramatic change in accordance with the intention and demands of the whole people, the state-run Arirang-meari said in an editorial Monday. “It presented a new era of peace and prosperity in the whole land of Korea."The editorial came a day after North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, in his first letter to Moon in 10 months, expressed his willingness to meet him often in 2019 to discuss peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula.The North Korean media assessed the three inter-Korean summits on April 27 on the South Korean side of Panmunjeom, the truce village; on May 26 on the North Korean side of the Joint Security Area; and from Sept. 18-20 in Pyongyang as a very special event in Korean history.It also highlighted the opening of inter-Korean liaison offices, the 11th anDec 31, 2018
North Korea downplays deadlock in peace process as 'temporary phenomenon' A man reads Rodong Sinmun at a hotel in Pyongyang in this undated file photo.A North Korean state media outlet downplayed the deadlock in its negotiating process with the United States as a "temporary phenomenon" that typically happens at times of great changes.The North's main newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, made the assessment in an editorial reviewing 2018, saying there has been a "dramatic change" in the country's strategic position in the international community.Referring to the North's historic first-ever summit with the U.S. and three inter-Korean summits, the newspaper said that a new trend has taken shape on the Korean Peninsula and in the region toward peace and reducing tensions."Of course, it is true that difficulties have been created in our way forward ... But this is nothing but a temporary phenomenon that happens at a time when old things die out and new things emerge," the editorial said.The editorial was apparently referring to the denuclearization negotiations with the U.S. that have been stalled over the North's demand for sanctions relief and the U.S. insistence on keeDec 31, 2018
North Korean leader vows to visit Seoul: Cheong Wa Dae South Korean President Moon Jae-in, right, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un / Joint Press CorpsKim Jong-un is willing to meet Moon Jae-in more often in 2019 By Park Ji-wonNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un expressed his willingness to visit Seoul in the unspecified future in a letter sent to President Moon Jae-in, according to the presidential office Sunday. Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom told reporters the North Korean leader expressed regret for not being able to make his visit to Seoul this year as he wished and agreed with Moon in Pyongyang. He expressed willingness to pay a visit to the capital city while monitoring the situation, the spokesman added. The presidential official, however, didn’t specify when the North Korean leader will be visiting Seoul.The presidential spokesman said Kim was willing to meet Moon more often in 2019 to discuss peace and prosperity of the Korean Peninsula as well as to resolve issues related to denuclearization.The move came after he didn’t pay an expected visit to Seoul in December as he had promised to do so in the Pyongyang agDec 30, 2018
World's tallest empty hotel lit up with North Korean propaganda In this Dec. 20 photo, a propaganda message is displayed on the facade of the pyramid-shaped Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea. Transformed into the backdrop for a gargantuan propaganda display, the capital city's yet-to-be-completed 105-story hotel is once again the talk of North Korea. In a brilliant flip of the script, the uninhabited, pyramid-like building that towers over the North's capital has been festooned with more than 100,000 lights that for several hours every night flash propaganda far and wide. APThe 105-story Ryugyong Hotel has long been a blot on the Pyongyang skyline. The world's tallest unoccupied building has towered over North Korea's capital since 1987, a grand but empty pyramid entirely dark except for the lone aircraft warning light at its top. Outsiders saw the unfinished building as the epitome of failure, while people inside the country took care to rarely mention it at all. That is, until light designer Kim Yong Il made the building once again the talk of the town. In a brilliant flip of the script, the Ryugyong has been reborn as a sDec 30, 2018
