North Korea builds its own OS "By order of Kim Jong-il"

North Korea builds its own OS "By order of Kim Jong-il"

North Korea’s “secret cyber-weapon”: brand new Red Star OS

Not only does North Korea have “its own Internet” – a national information network independent from the US-based Internet regulator – it also has an operating system, developed under by order of Kim Jong-il.

Propeller Russian student Mikhail, who studies in the Kim Il-sung University and writes a blog has recently purchased the Red Star Operating System (OS) and tested it. Courtesy of Mikhail, RT gives you an opportunity to take glimpse at IT life of world’s most closed country.

The Red Star is a Linux-based OS developed by North Korean IT specialists last year. Readme file, which goes with the install disc, even gives a quote from Kim Jong-il about how important for DPRK is to have its own Linux-based operating system compatible with Korean traditions.

The version tested by Mikhail is the latest build, which, according to locals, still needs polishing. The OS is not popular (yet?), with most people who need one preferring Windows XP and Windows Vista.

Mikhail bought his copy for about $5 in an information center 5 minutes walk from the university dorm. Interestingly, no permission is required for it, which is probably explained by the regulation of the sale of computers.

The system has server and client versions, and apps can be bought separately at twice the price.



Installation of the Red Star is possible straight from the bootable disk, from hard drive, or via the net. The whole process takes 10 to 15 minutes. While the files are copied, the user is shown tips like in a Windows installation, saying that the system “is now faster and simpler”. Unlike Windows, you will not be allowed to select your system language: only Korean is available.

The desktop is pretty much standard, with a My Computer icon, a trash bin and a link to a system tour. The red star in bottom left corner opens the system menu, while icons next to it are the quick launch panel. Notice the clock on the left – the year is 99th of the Juche Idea, the official North Korean ideology.

My Computer launches the file browser. Here is how it looks:



Standard applications for the system are low in number: web-browser “My Country” (which is actually Firefox in disguise), a simple word processor, a picture viewer, a pdf reader, players for audio and video files, a file archiver, a virtual disk manager and stuff like calculator or symbol table. All the applications except the web-browser are named after their functionality.



Naenara web browser was successfully recognized by Firefox website, which offered downloads of the latest Korean version of the browser for Linux i686.





What is interesting for a North Korean product is the near-total absence of propaganda – unless you treat the word “red” in its name as an instance.


More here: http://rt.com/Top_News/2010-03-01/north-korea-cyber-weapon.html?fullstory

A North Korean OS. Does anybody else suspect that there may be hidden programs in it that keep track of the computer users and secretly send the info back to the central government?

catcher22 wrote:

A North Korean OS. Does anybody else suspect that there may be hidden programs in it that keep track of the computer users and secretly send the info back to the central government?

Hmmm...Indeed.

Wouldn't surprise me in the least to hear that the disc/OS is loaded with malware (or at least a keylogging rootkit of some kind).

And while I'm on this topic & line of discussion, if my post is true (which I don't doubt), I wonder what happens what they do if the CG finds you looking at some "unauthorized content"?

Would they send Evil Otto their way? ( INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!)
(Sorry, had to go there!)

I'm sure that whatever happens to anyone unlucky enough to be caught without officially sanctioned information ........ well, I dont think it would be good.

Netsurfer_x1 wrote:

And while I'm on this topic & line of discussion, if my post is true (which I don't doubt), I wonder what happens what they do if the CG finds you looking at some "unauthorized content"?

Jong-Il's Hair Apparent wrote:

I'm sure that whatever happens anyone unlucky enough to be caught without officially sanctioned information ........ well, I dont think it would be good.

They would undoubtedly become "guests" in NK's public housing projects...
North Koreas’ Largest Concentration Camps on Google Earth http://freekorea.us/camps

The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea estimates that North Korea holds approximately 200,000 people in its system of concentration and detention camps, and that 400,000 people have died in these camps from torture, starvation, disease, and execution.

On second thought, I would guess that since North Korea has it's own isolated "internet", unconnected to the www, there should be no unapproved content available.

The collected works of Kim Il-Sung and the like would no doubt be available, though.

I think I'll stick with Windows.
Those things would make good coasters, though.