North Korea's other imminent launch: a new website

Via Martyn Williams comes word that North Korea's Pyongyang Broadcasting Station (평양방송), a Korean-language propaganda network aimed at neighboring countries, is launching a new website this week:

The new website will be called “Grand National Unity” and will be available at www.gnu.rep.kp from February 1st, according to the announcements. That site currently holds a test page for the Apache web server. The site is the latest from the country carrying national news and propaganda to international audiences. While its adoption of the Internet for propagation of information has been slow, it has been steady and new sites have slowly been appearing. Other prominent sites include the Rodong Sinmun, the  country’s main daily newspaper, and the official Korea Central News Agency.

More at North Korea Tech.

• [UnderachievingSheep]

  I remember the day I found the website of the North Korean News Agency (apparently hosted in Japan). I spent hours reading the press releases because I was baffled by the language they use. It’s not just that it is propaganda, it’s the way they use the language of bureaucracy to convey what they believe to be a tone of news agencies. The cognitive dissonance was simultaneously amusing and scary, mostly because since then I wondered if we (meaning those who live in democratic nations), are exposed to similar tripe but no longer notice it because the tone of the propaganda is more in line with our culturally expected language.

  And then, imagine how my head exploded when I found out there is an entire sub Reddit devoted to these “news” items. I still cannot figure out if someone is posting these “ironically” or if the regime really has someone whose job is to post these outlandish articles on Reddit.

• [naufragio]

  GNU’s Not Unity.

• [.]

  I wonder how long it will take for that site to get owned.

• [thezarray]

  I can’t get to youtube rightnow but theres a NK channel that I’m rather sure is official but it’s always hard to tell.

• [citizen]

  I’d just like to interject for a moment. What you’re refering to as Korea, is in fact, GNU/Korea, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus korea. Korea is not a nation state unto itself, but rather a geopolitical component of a fully functioning GNU nation made useful by the GNU culture, ideals and vital social components comprising a full Juche as defined by the Great Leader.

  • [Michael Smith]

    We should drop Stallman on them and see what happens.

• [niktemadur]

  This is the other North Korean website:
  http://hcakj9.ytmnd.com/

  Has about as much content and as many updates as the other NK sites.  Or is it site?  I’ve kinda lost track.