Kim Jong-unternet
December 13, 2012 12:30 PM   Subscribe

"What is it like to surf the Internet in the most secretive country on Earth?"
Whenever leader Kim Jong-un is mentioned, his name is automatically displayed ever so slightly bigger than the text around it. Not by much, but just enough to make it stand out.

[...]


There's just one cybercafe in North Korea's capital, Pyongyang. Anyone logging on at the cafe would find themselves at a computer that isn't running Windows, but instead Red Star - North Korea's own custom-built operating system, reportedly commissioned by the late Kim Jong-il himself. [...] The computer's calendar does not read 2012, but 101 - the number of years since the birth of Kim Il-sung, the country's former leader whose political theories define policy decisions.
posted by jacobian (15 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: There's basically an open thread on this topic from two days ago and maybe this should go there? -- jessamyn



 
The computer's calendar does not read 2012, but 101 - the number of years since the birth of Kim Il-sung, the country's former leader whose political theories define policy decisions.

That is just crazy! Why would you base your calendar on an observed fact?
posted by srboisvert at 12:41 PM on December 13, 2012 [5 favorites]


That's nothing. When using their OS, you have to assume Kim Il-Sung was born at midnight on 1/1/1970.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 12:45 PM on December 13, 2012 [5 favorites]


Windows NK
posted by chavenet at 12:53 PM on December 13, 2012 [2 favorites]


In which the "Red-Screen-of-Death" becomes tragically literal.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:57 PM on December 13, 2012 [6 favorites]


I bet they have a more literal version of minesweeper too.
posted by 2bucksplus at 1:03 PM on December 13, 2012 [3 favorites]


Mine sweeps you.
posted by Nomyte at 1:04 PM on December 13, 2012 [3 favorites]


Out of curiosity, has anyone loaded the OS Red Star onto a partition to see how it works? Is this even possible?
posted by TheTingTangTong at 1:08 PM on December 13, 2012


Out of curiosity, has anyone loaded the OS Red Star onto a partition to see how it works? Is this even possible?

Here's a link to the ISO. (via Wikipedia)
posted by downing street memo at 1:12 PM on December 13, 2012 [1 favorite]


Hey, let's not mock them, they have a satellite now.
posted by Artw at 1:13 PM on December 13, 2012


Out of curiosity, has anyone loaded the OS Red Star onto a partition to see how it works? Is this even possible?

I hear if you dual-boot, little bits of data slowly migrate to your Windows partition for a better life and freedom.
posted by crasiman at 1:13 PM on December 13, 2012 [9 favorites]


Reading about the North Korean intranet that serves as the only available "internet" to regular NK citizens...so depressing. It boggles the mind to think that there is a country in our world that is basically every sci-fi dystopia trope made real.

Is there nothing that can be done for these people?
posted by Doleful Creature at 1:33 PM on December 13, 2012 [1 favorite]


Here's a link to the ISO. (via Wikipedia)

Well I for one am happy North Korea is respecting their obligations under the GPL.
posted by Space Coyote at 1:39 PM on December 13, 2012 [1 favorite]


crasiman: Out of curiosity, has anyone loaded the OS Red Star onto a partition to see how it works? Is this even possible?

I hear if you dual-boot, little bits of data slowly migrate to your Windows partition for a better life and freedom.
First it has to get past the firingwall. Which is literal, of course.
posted by IAmBroom at 1:42 PM on December 13, 2012 [1 favorite]


Doleful Creature: Reading about the North Korean intranet that serves as the only available "internet" to regular NK citizens...so depressing. It boggles the mind to think that there is a country in our world that is basically every sci-fi dystopia trope made real.

Is there nothing that can be done for these people?
If you ever have the answer, mail it immediately to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, 10 Downing St, and any PO box with the owner listed as "Anonymous".

I have many (S) Korean coworkers, and NK is often on my mind. A literal hell on earth, in many ways... and yet, if the current government falls, what then? So much of the population invested in horrific domination of the rest of the population...
posted by IAmBroom at 1:46 PM on December 13, 2012


This is a double.
posted by MuffinMan at 1:53 PM on December 13, 2012


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