SoraNews24 —Japan News—

Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.

Featured

Weird
Studio Ghibli
Jobs

North Korea (Page 2)

We finally know the age of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un

BUSINESS INSIDER
Jul 9, 2016
Tweet

US officials closely monitor North Korea’s activities, so it might come as a surprise that we’ve been missing some basic information on its leader, Kim Jong Un.

North Korea
(age • Birthday • Kim Jong-un • news • North Korea)

Rare photos from inside North Korea’s mysterious buildings

BUSINESS INSIDER
Jun 16, 2016

Kim Jong Suk Creche, Pyongyang Oliver Wainwright

For 10 days, architect, photographer, and architecture and design critic for The Guardian, Oliver Wainwright, traveled to Pyongyang, North Korea where he got tours inside buildings, with permission to photograph.

Culture, North Korea
(architecture • buildings • North Korea • photography)

Twitter users claim Dragon Quest theme is eerily similar to university song, North Korea’s anthem

Jamie Koide
Jun 2, 2016

Observations from two users on Twitter have sparked a discussion of Dragon Quest influences past and present.

Internet, Japan
(Chuo University • Dragon Quest • Dragon Warrior • North Korea • theme songs • twitter • video game music • video games)

World on high alert as North Korea flexes its video FX muscle【Video】

Master Blaster
Apr 7, 2016

New video shows that North Korea is possibly in possession of the Action Movie FX app, arguably the most devastating weapon simulation app known to man.

North Korea
(Action Movie FX • fail • North Korea • propaganda • threat • video • video editing)

The dirty reason China can’t always tell North Korea what to do

BUSINESS INSIDER
Mar 29, 2016

Global consumption of coal has declined significantly over the past year, driven by China, which makes up about half of the world’s demand for coal.

China, North Korea
(China • coal • environment • North Korea • pollution • trade)

North Korea claims successful hydrogen bomb test, world very skeptical

KK Miller
Jan 7, 2016

North Korea is beginning the New Year by announcing it has successfully tested a hydrogen bomb.

North Korea
(hydrogen bomb • military • North Korea)

North Korea has developed nuclear-capable missiles capable of hitting the US

BUSINESS INSIDER
Nov 4, 2015

North Korea now has a range of ballistic missiles that are thought to be capable of hitting both the US mainland and American interests throughout the Pacific, The Heritage Foundation reports in its 2016 Index of US Military Strength.

The annual report examines the strength of the US military, and also takes into account potential rising threats to the US and its allies from across the world. According to Heritage, the threat from the nuclear-armed, anti-American authoritarian state will only get more complicated in 2016.

North Korea
(military • missiles • North Korea • nuclear weapons • report)

South Korean president says Korean reunification “might even happen next year”

Scott Wilson
Aug 20, 2015

Sometimes it’s hard to believe that North and South Korea used to be the same country. On the one hand, you have South Korea, plastic surgery and cute baby capital of the world, and on the other hand you have North Korea, which is apparently constantly on fire, possibly due to “gasoline clams.”

However, many would love to see the two Koreas reunited once again, among them South Korea’s president, Park Geun-hye. In a speech that she gave at a recent meeting, she said that the two Koreas might even be reunited as soon as 2016.

This of course set off a chain of reactions from South Koreans online, some praising the idea of immediate unification while others criticized it – and not necessarily for the reasons you might think.

Korea
(North Korea • politics • South Korea • unification)

North Korea establishes its own time zone in order to stick it to “wicked Japanese imperialists”

Philip Kendall
Aug 7, 2015

Were they granted the ability to manipulate time and space, we’re fairly certain that most world leaders would choose to go back in time in order to benefit their own country somehow, replaying disastrous moments in their history and righting wrongs that would later cost them dearly. (One can only imagine a world in which the likes of Katie Hopkins and Donald Trump were never put in front of a camera…)

But today, totalitarian dictatorship North Korea declared that it would be turning the clock back by just 30 minutes, thus establishing “Pyongyang Time”, in order to mark its independence from the “wicked Japanese imperialists” who meddled with their clocks to begin with.

Japan, North Korea
(colonisation • Japan • North Korea • Pyongyang Time • time zone)

See what it’s like to use a computer in North Korea

BUSINESS INSIDER
Jan 3, 2015

When former Google employee Will Scott had the chance to visit the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, he also purchased a copy of North Korea’s “Red Star 3” operating system before returning to America.

Little was publically known about Red Star 3.

North Korea used to use Windows, but it has since created Red Star 3, which is designed to look a lot like Apple’s Mac OS X operating system.

From stunning and picturesque wallpapers to removing South Korea from the available time zones, here’s what it’s like to use a computer in North Korea.

Korea
(computer • North Korea • operating system • Red Star 3)

Here’s how the CEO of Sony tweaked ‘The Interview’ after North Korea threatened war

BUSINESS INSIDER
Dec 11, 2014

Sony’s film studio, Sony Pictures, was hit by a massive hack that resulted in the leaking online of a huge trove of documents from the company.

Re/code reports that one of the files posted online was the email archive of Amy Pascal, the company’s co-chairman. Her inbox contained emails sent by Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai in which he instructs Sony Pictures staff to make an important change to the ending of coming comedy “The Interview.”

Internet, Korea, USA
(Kim Jong-un • North Korea • Seth Rogan • The Interview)

North Korea bars foreign tourists to prevent spread of Ebola

Casey Baseel
Oct 24, 2014

With a couple of months having passed since summer vacation, many of us are feeling the need for a few days off. After all, who doesn’t like getting away from their workaday routine for the liberating excitement of a few days taking a trip someplace new, like North Korea?

But if your short-term travel wish list includes a trip to the northern reaches of the Korean Peninsula, you might want to postpone your departure, because as of October 24, no foreign tourists are getting in, due to a new government policy to prevent the spread of Ebola to the communist country.

North Korea
(Ebola • health • North Korea • travel)

The world of the future, according to North Korean architect

Jessica
Aug 13, 2014

The interconnectedness of today’s world has been a real boon to artists, scientists, designers, futurists, and pretty much anyone who thrives on the free exchange of ideas. If you asked a kid from South Africa to draw the city of the future, it would be equally likely and unsurprising for her to design futuristic skyscrapers reminiscent of the Burj Khalifa or hobbit hole-like underground eco-houses.

But what if you were from North Korea? What if you didn’t have Internet and had never left your own country? What would the city of the future look like to you?

North Korea
(architecture • design • North Korea)

Conditions in North Korea so bad even the wildlife are making a break for it 【Video】

Mike
Jun 18, 2014

Apparently unsatisfied with North Korea’s delectable, super power-bestowing mushrooms, and finding very little else in the way of sustenance, a desperate tiger was recently caught on camera making the treacherous swim across the Yalu River from North Korea towards China.

China, North Korea
(animals • North Korea • video)

North Korea “invents” performance-enhancing drink from mushrooms, Nintendo lawyers remain silent

Mike
Jun 3, 2014

In North Korea‘s latest desperate attempt for attention from the rest of the civilized world, the dictatorship – perhaps tired of tossing missiles around for now – bragged through state media that its scientists have discovered a way to extract enzymes from a certain mushroom grown in the region to create a miracle super drink that makes athletes better, faster and stronger.

North Korea
(funny • mushroom • North Korea • science • video games)

If you want to explore the Hermit Kingdom of North Korea, there’s an app for that

BUSINESS INSIDER
May 9, 2014

For everyone dreaming of the chance to visit North Korea, you’re in luck. There is now an app for that.

The North Korea Travel app, released on Wednesday, promises to be the most comprehensive guide ever created for tourists to the Hermit Kingdom.

The app, which will be available through both the App Store and Google play, will feature information on over 350 locations throughout the country. Each location will feature “Tour Guide Tips” provided by Simon Cockerell, who works in the North Korea travel industry and has visited the country over 120 times.

North Korea
(app • explore • North Korea • Pull Partners • travel)

70% of South Koreans will donate to fund for unity with North, want US and China to cough up too

Fran W
Apr 17, 2014

Over 70 percent of South Koreans plan to donate to a government fund set up to pay for potential unification between North and South Korea, a recent survey suggests. If the two countries were successfully reconciled, the Finance Ministry estimates that unification would cost South Korea 7 percent of its GDP for 10 years.

North and South Korea have made various joint declarations of intent since the 1970s, but there has never been any successful implementation. However, the South has set up the fund to raise $50 million for a hypothetical unification, and almost almost three quarters of South Koreans surveyed think that other countries, such as China and the United States, should also contribute towards the financial cost of unification.

Korea
(North Korea • South Korea • survey • unification)

North Korean media sinks even lower, calls South Korean leader a “repulsive wench”

Philip Kendall
Apr 7, 2014

Barely a week after branding her a “blabbering peasant woman,” North Korea has labelled South Korean leader Park Geun-hye a “repulsive wench” via its state-run media. Not only that, but the same quoted source also alluded to the fact that the president has no children of her own, and said that she “makes a mockery of sacred motherhood.”

Korea, North Korea
(insult • North Korea • politics • slander)

North Korea releases new logo for space agency, Internet forgets how acronyms work

Preston Phro
Apr 3, 2014

For a country that allegedly has little contact with the outside world, North Korea somehow manages to end up in the news an awful lot. While it’s hard to tell how much of what we hear and read is true, sometimes a nugget of truth–beautiful, hilarious truth–slips through the cracks of propaganda on both sides of the ideological line and leaves us giggling.

As you’ve probably heard, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has recently unveiled the logo for their year-old space agency, NADA. Though they may have expected fanfare or at least a bit of grudging respect, the main response they got was an Internet full of giggles.

Internet, North Korea
(logo • NADA • NASA • North Korea • space)

You ain’t seen North Korean calisthenics ’til you’ve seen it done to Final Fantasy IV boss music

Master Blaster
Mar 31, 2014

Every once in a while we experience pleasant beauty of synchronicity in life, whether it’s listening to Pink Flyod’s Dark Side of the Moon while watching The Wizard of OZ or just listening to The Police’s Synchronicity.

Another such case is the uncannily fitting combination of a North Korean calisthenics video for children with the background music to a Final Fantasy IV boss battle. A video of it was posted on YouTube quite a while ago, but it’s worth revisiting again and again.