Monday, September 2, 2013

Kim Jong Un visits ‘cell phone factory’

Kim Jong Un visits ‘cell phone factory’

Kim Jong Un visited on Saturday the Pyongyang factory where North Korean cell phones are supposedly made, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
The Android-based AS1201 "Arirang" cell phone, reportedly produced by the May 11 Factory in Pyongyang.
The Android-based AS1201 “Arirang” cell phone, reportedly produced by the May 11 Factory in Pyongyang.
Photos of the visit, released by KCNA, show Kim touring the May 11 Factory and talking to officials. There’s also a picture of what’s said to be the latest cell phone on the North Korean market, an Android phone called “Arirang.” (See right, click for larger image.)
The visit came two years and two weeks since Kim Jong Un last visited the factory. That time he accompanied his father, Kim Jong Il, on a tour of a flat-screen LCD TV assembly line. At the time I noted the production line shown in TV coverage of the visit didn’t look much like those in a typical electronics factory and the same is true this time around.
Workers are shown with finished products, inspecting them and testing them but no actual manufacturing is shown.
Despite KCNA’s reporting that the handsets are made at the factory, they are probably made to order by a Chinese manufacturer and shipped to the May 11 Factory where they are inspected before going on sale.
That will be all but confirmed if the handset shown in the photo can be identified.
Here’s what KCNA said about the visit:
He learned in detail about the performance, quality and packing of “Arirang” hand phone being made at this factory.
He highly appreciated the creative ingenuity and patriotic enthusiasm with which the officials and employees of the factory laid a solid foundation for mass-producing hand phones by building a new modern hand phone production process.
He praised them for developing an application program in Korean style which provides the best convenience to the users while strictly guaranteeing security.
After learning about the performance of a touch hand phone, he said that a hand phone is convenient for its user when that part of the phone is sensitive.
He noted that these hand phones will be very convenient for their users as their camera function has high pixels.
After being told that “Arirang” hand phones which the factory started producing a few days ago are high in demand among people, he said he was also pleased as they are liked by people.
Looking at the trademark “Arirang” inscribed on the hand phone, he noted that mass-production of goods with DPRK trademark can instill national pride and self-respect into the Korean people.
How nice to see hand phones being successfully produced with indigenous technology, he said, adding it is of educational significance in making people love Korean things.
He said that only when the quality of products is improved while boosting their production, people will like home-made things and they will be in high demand. — KCNA, August 11, 2013.
A report on the visit was carried by Korean Central Television, but it didn’t show any video or still images from the trip.
Analysis of the meeting by Daily NK noted the visit is the first time that Kim has “offered the Kim family stamp of approval to the widespread production, and by extension ownership, of cell phones.”
That’s true, although Kim Jong Il’s previous meetings with Naguib Sawiris, chairman of network operator Orascom Telecom, received widespread coverage in state media as did the switching on of the cell phone network.
Daily NK also said it was noteworthy that “Kim posited the idea of cellphone production as a patriotic activity.”
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Kim Jong Un on a visit of the May 11 Factory on August 10, 2013.
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Kim Jong Un on a visit of the May 11 Factory on August 10, 2013.

Ham radio operators hope to put North Korea on the air

Ham radio operators hope to put North Korea on the air

A group of amateur radio operators are hoping to get permission from the North Korean government for a month-long trip to the country during which they’ll set up a ham radio operation.
If they manage to pull off the plan, they’ll have succeeded where few have before.
North Korea has no amateur radio operators and government-sanctioned transmissions by foreigners in the country are extremely rare. This makes North Korea the rarest country for contacts in the amateur radio world.
The project is still in the planning phase but is being led by operators with experience of both North Korea and operating in usually closed countries. One of the members, David Flack (AH6HY), has been to the DPRK several times and other members helped organize similar trips to Kurdistan, South Sudan and Yemen.
Two of the group are planning to travel to Pyongyang in June and seek permission to bring in two teams of 12 operators and the necessary radios, antennas, power supplies and amplifiers.
The expedition won’t be solely focused on radio activities. They are also running a humanitarian appeal to help the “Love North Korean Children” charity.
Two members of the the group contacted declined an interview request.
There have been several other attempts to get on the air from North Korea. One of the more recent was in 2005.
David Borenstein (KA2HTV), a medical doctor, received advance permission to operate while on a trip to Pyongyang but failed to get on the air. Apparently, an official at the Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries approved the plan without getting clearance from the Ministry of Telecommunications and Posts, according a statement from his sponsor.
His equipment made it through customs and some of it was then held by the ministry for a week before he was told he could not operate in North Korea, the statement said.
To make matters worse, he didn’t get to return with all of his gear. Early discussions had included talk of a donation to the DPRK of amateur radio equipment, and some of Mr. Borenstein’s own equipment was apparently mistaken for the gear to be donated. He ended up with a receipt from the Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries thanking him for his “donation” of a radio, antenna, power supply and other gear.
Edisher Giorgadze (4L4FN) operating his amateur radio station in Pyongyang.
Edisher Giorgadze (4L4FN) operating his amateur radio station in Pyongyang.
The most successful has been Edisher Giorgadze (4L4FN), a Georgian working for the UN World Food Programme in Pyongyang. He received permission to operate while stationed in the country and made more than 16,000 communications with more than 12,000 amateurs around the world.
The station was on the air for just over a year, but was forced to close in November 2002.
According to a news release from the time:
“Friday evening, 2002 November 22, Ed was called into a meeting with the “Radio Regulation Board” without any explanation, he was politely asked to quit all transmissions and pack all his radio equipment. Saturday, he spent all day on the roof disassembling his antennas and packing boxes. At 2:30pm on of the government officials came by, sealed all the boxes and when he leaves on December 10 for his two weeks R&R he is to take everything with him out of the country.”
Here’s a couple of photos of the antennas he used:
The antenna of Edisher Giorgadze (4L4FN) at his amateur radio station in Pyongyang.
The antenna of Edisher Giorgadze (4L4FN) at his amateur radio station in Pyongyang.
The antenna of Edisher Giorgadze (4L4FN) at his amateur radio station in Pyongyang.
The antenna of Edisher Giorgadze (4L4FN) at his amateur radio station in Pyongyang.