This has the reputation of being the most repressive country in the world, or shall we say the most repressed. We wish we could have found more information about bloggers, but news is hard to get from that country.
This clampdown , has created a huge, but illegal black market in North Korea, especially for Chinese cell phones. Along the border with China, North Koreans are using the Chinese web to go online.
There is one journalist who has died in prison. His name is Cha Gwangho. He died at age 65 or malnutrition. No one found about his death until 9 years after the fact. Gwangho was arrested for criticizing Kim Jong II regime. Another reporter who died in a North Korean "Reeducation" camp was Kim Kyung Cheon, another journalist. He also, had criticized the North Korean regime. According to a source, Kim Kyung Cheon was a cameraman working for Chosun Cetral TV (KCTV), and Cha Gwang Ho was working for the Central News Agency (KCNA). Both died during the Spring of 2001. We have no pictures of them. Estimates by some, say that there are at least 200,000 people interned in political prisons in North Korea.
"For lack of information, the fate of tens of thousands of North Korean prisoners of conscience is largely neglected by the international community,” Reporters Without Borders
According to Reporters without Frontiers, North Korea has had Internet service available since 2000. There are no private ISPs and only one public ISP, which is, of course, completely controlled by the North Korean government. The only websites that can be accessed on the North Korean Internet are three, The Grand People's Study House, Kim Ilsung and Kim Chaek Universities. These contain mostly science information, and are accessed, by a few handpicked, academicians and bureaucrats. The only chat rooms allowed to be used by North Koreans citizens, are heavily monitored by the police.This clampdown , has created a huge, but illegal black market in North Korea, especially for Chinese cell phones. Along the border with China, North Koreans are using the Chinese web to go online.
There is one journalist who has died in prison. His name is Cha Gwangho. He died at age 65 or malnutrition. No one found about his death until 9 years after the fact. Gwangho was arrested for criticizing Kim Jong II regime. Another reporter who died in a North Korean "Reeducation" camp was Kim Kyung Cheon, another journalist. He also, had criticized the North Korean regime. According to a source, Kim Kyung Cheon was a cameraman working for Chosun Cetral TV (KCTV), and Cha Gwang Ho was working for the Central News Agency (KCNA). Both died during the Spring of 2001. We have no pictures of them. Estimates by some, say that there are at least 200,000 people interned in political prisons in North Korea.
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