North Korean Economy Watch

UPDATE  (1/11/2011): The DPRK accuses the ROK of hacking its web pages.  According to the AP (Via Washington Post):

North Korea is accusing South Korean Internet users of hacking into one of its websites, calling the behavior a provocation aimed at undermining its national dignity.

The North’s government-run Uriminzokkiri website said Tuesday that South Korean Internet users recently deleted articles on the site and posted messages slandering the North’s dignity.

It accuses the South Korean government of being behind the cyber attacks and urges it to apologize.

Anti-North Korea articles and pictures were reportedly posted on the site over the weekend, with one image showing leader Kim Jong Il and his son and heir-apparent Kim Jong Un kneeling down before what appears to be a Chinese emperor. [See image here]

UPDATE (1/11/2011): I am not sure how I missed it, but it appears that the battle between North and South Korean hackers  we saw on the weekend of Jan 8 has been going on for a few weeks.  According to the AFP, last weekend’s hacks on the North Korean web pages was actually the second round of such efforts:

The South’s hackers last month sabotaged the official website [Uriminzokkiri] with a 12-line acrostic poem — purportedly in praise of the Kims but with the first letter of each line spelling out derogatory words about them.

Apparently North Korean hackers responded to this with a DDOS attack last week, and that was followed by the South Korean hacker attacks over the weekend on the Uriminzokkiri YouTube and Twitter accounts.

UPDATE (1/11/2011): A Chinese-language blog focused on the DPRK printed a small screen shot of the hack job on the Uriminzokkiri page itself which features Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un kneeling before a Chinese emperor:

Click image for larger version

UPDATE (1/9/2010): The Uriminzokkiri web page is back up, and the North Koreans have gotten control of their YouTube account and deleted the pirate video.  I have posted it to my own YouTube account for archival purposes.  You can see it here.  As of today, the North Koreans still have not deleted the pirate tweets:

우리 인민의 철천치 원쑤 김정일 력도와 아들 김정은을 몰아내여 새 세상을 만들자!

조선인민군대여! 인민군들을 먹일 돈으로 핵과 미싸일 개발에 14억 딸라를 랑비한 김정일 력도에게 총부리를 겨누자

로망난 김정일과 폭악한 새끼 돼지 김정은을 한 칼에 처단하여 우리도 남녘의 인민들처럼 이밥에 고깃국을 먹으면서 행복하게 살아보자

300만 인민들이 굶어죽고 얼어죽었는데 초호화별장에서 처녀들과 난잡한 술파티를 벌이고 있는 김정일을 처단하자

Mary has offered translations of these tweets in the comments.

Multiple users at http://dcinside.com are taking credit for the job.

ORIGINAL POST: In honor of Kim Jong-un’s (alleged) birthday, some hackers posted derogatory content to the DPRK’s Uriminzokkiri Twitter and YouTube accounts.  As of now, the content is still up, meaning that the hackers might have changed the passwords making it difficult to gain access to the accounts and remove the content.

Here is the most recent Uriminzokkiri Tweet:

According to the Washington Post, this roughly translates to “Let’s create a new world by rooting out our people’s sworn enemy Kim Jong Il and his son Kim Jong Eun!” (Please correct me if I am wrong)

According to Al Jazeera:

The four most recent messages posted on Saturday morning accuse the ruling family of exploiting the North Korean people to enjoy luxurious lives and develop nuclear arms and missiles.

One message called for an uprising to kill the Kims “with a sword”.

…

The apparent hacking of the site on Saturday, also Kim Jong-un’s birthday, is not the first such attack against the government’s online public relations efforts. Last month, the government’s official website, Uriminzokkiri, was reportedly duped into carrying a message that called the ruling family by harsh names.

Here is a link to the Youtube video:

The Noland/Haggard blog provides a translation:

“The truth behind the Kim Jong Un Train Incident [the reference is to reports of a derailed train SH/MN]”

Kim Jong Il: Ahh…Today is Kim Jong Un’s birthday. I wonder what he’d like for his presents? A Mercedez Benz? A Yacht? Money? Eh, whatever; I’ll just get him everything. Hahahaha.

Kim Jong Un: Get out of my way, you &@#@$@! [Runs over starving people; the corpses pile up on the railway.]

Hahahaha, these people are worthless!!

(Phone rings)

Hello?

Kim Jong Il: It’s me, your dad.

Kim Jong Un: Daddy, it’s my birthday; don’t you have any presents for me?

Kim Jong Il: Don’t worry, I just sent you your presents by train. I’m sure you’ll like them since they’re all crazy expensive. Haha.

Kim Jong Un: Oh, Okay Dad.

Train driver: Huh? What are those?

(The train runs into the corpses left on the railway by Kim Jong Un, and the presents hit Kim Jong Un one by one.)

Kim Jong Un: Dammit, who is it! Who left the &@#@$@! corpses on the railway! Damn it, if you get caught, you’re dead! Which bastard is it!

(Closing) They say Kim Jong Un is still looking for the culprit.

The irony is that KJU’s birthday seems to have garnered more attention outside the DPRK than from within.  Two articles this week point out that KJU’s ascension may still be debatable.  Read more in the New York Times and the Washington Post.

More information related to the hacking below:
1. Washington Post

2. Joshua Stanton, One Free Korea

3. Martyn Willams, North Korea Tech

4. Yonhap

5. Previous posts about the DPRK’s YouTube and Twitter accounts: here and here

6. Martyn Williams’ list of North Korea and North Korea-related web pages.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 8th, 2011 at 3:15 pm and is filed under Civil society, Computing/IT, Kim Jong Un, Political economy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.