Arirang 171 smartphone unveiled
North Korea’s latest smartphone is the Arirang 171 (아리랑171), the latest in a line of phones to carry the Arirang name and the most powerful to date. Technical details of…
Articles by Martyn Williams
Olympics notes: No coverage yet on KCTV
With the second full day of competition ended at the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, North Korea’s KCTV has yet to feature any coverage. On Sunday, the broadcaster included several still…
How to watch North Korean TV live
A common question I get is whether it’s possible to watch North Korean TV live. There are several sources available with different levels of reliability and quality. Broadcasts begin at…
What does Strava data tell us about North Korea?
Strava’s heat map of user activity has been raising some eyebrows for detailing movement of people around military bases, but what does it tell us about North Korea? As you…
Olympics notes: Will North Koreans get to watch the PyeongChang Winter Olympics?
With the PyeongChang Winter Olympics coming up, one of the issues for North-South discussion is television access for Korean Central Television. That because Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS), one of South Korea’s…
Olympics notes: Will North Korean athletes get Samsung phones?
As part of its Olympics sponsorship deal, Samsung Electronics is providing a Note 8 smartphone featuring Olympic branding to every athlete at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. Samsung will supply more…
A look inside the Potonggang Electronics factory
Korean Central Television (조선중앙텔레비죤) broadcast footage over the new year holiday of the flat-panel TV assembly line of Potonggang Electronics (보통강전자제품공장). The video shows workers testing LCD TV components, putting…
KCTV gets a widescreen, stereo upgrade
North Korea’s main TV channel, Korean Central Television (조선중앙텔레비죤), debuted a substantial technical upgrade on December 4 when it switched to widescreen, high-definition broadcasting. Until Monday, North Korean TV had…
Voice of Korea winter 2017/2018 schedule
Voice of Korea (조선의소리), North Korea’s international shortwave broadcasting station, adjusted its transmission schedule on October 29 for the winter 2017 and spring 2018 seasons. The broadcasts follow the same basic…
