North Korea is a very isolated country that remains in a state of war with South Korea and the United States. It is difficult to verify information regarding the actions of its government and especially the views of its citizens since they have little to no contact with the outside world. This makes it difficult to determine how much social media is being used to commit terrorist acts whether online or to plan them.
Public executions are the norm in North Korea, they are carried out against those who lean towards the West, possess Bibles, or are just frowned upon by the government. Other citizens are usually rounded up to witness these executions to help keep them in line and remind them of the consequences of disobeying their “beloved leader” Kim Jong Un. Many feel he is even more ruthless than his father, Kim Jong Il.
The main question regarding North Korea and terrorism are whether it is really terrorism at all or just military actions by a government. In my opinion military targets such as the soldiers attacked in the demilitarized zone would fall under acts of war not terrorism. However, I feel that assassination attempts, abductions of foreign civilians, and military attacks against civilians would be classified as terrorism. I would consider the regime’s cruelty and executions against its own people to be crimes against humanity for which I hope Kim Jung Un one day meets the same fate as Saddam Hussein. In regards to social media and other internet attacks by the government, I would also consider these acts of war and not terrorism, because they are being carried out by a government and not a civilian group.
North Korea and it’s version of Facebook
The Secret State of North Korea actually does have a simple form of social media. It is their version of Facebook. Almost none of the North Koreans have access to their 3G cellular network. It is reserved for those in power. Above is a screenshot of their version of Facebook, it is mostly limited to those in higher education. Dictators throughout history have always persecuted and had a fear of academics. I was surprised that educators and students would use this limited form of social media. I am sure it is being watched closely.
The article details how most North Koreans are satisfied with their domestic intranet and don’t have much of a desire to join the internet, like the rest of the world. The North Korean intranet is called “Red Star”, with it North Koreans can access government run websites and message boards that are strictly for North Koreans.
Secret State of North Korea
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/secret-state-of-north-korea/
This video footage which contains footage of life inside North Korea, smuggled out and produced by extremely brave North Koreans and their allies. The footage in this video is depressing and shocking. Much of it focuses on little children who are orphans or who have been abandoned by their parents because they simply couldn’t care for them. One of the children was eight years old and was living on the street begging. This broke my heart, I have an eight year old and I can’t imagine the hell that these children are going through. Many people just passed these poor kids on the street and kept walking. It is sad that so little is being done directly to help these poor people, sanctions are about as tough as the West gets with North Korea, and those have had little effect.
North Korea publicly executes 80, some for videos or Bibles
Sometime in November of 2013, the government of North Korea reportedly executed civilians for such crimes such as possessing bibles, South Korean movies, and other “horrible crimes”. About 10 people were executed in about 7-8 different cities across North Korea. According to the source, “Eight people — their heads covered with white bags — were tied to stakes at a local stadium in the city of Wonsan, before authorities shot them with a machine gun, according to the source.”. This is barbarism at its worst.
North Korea and Terrorism
http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/north-korea%E2%80%99s-legacy-terrorism
North Korea has a long list of terrorist acts, it is more ambiguous as far as whether the government of North Korea is also committing terrorism via the internet. This site details some of the terrorism committed by North Korea.
Example of terrorism attributed to North Korea by the West include:
Numerous abductions – “A 2011 report (pdf) from the US Committee for Human Rights in North Korea found that North Korea has abducted more than 180,000 people from 12 countries. The committee called on the United States to re-list North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism because of the abductions, which are categorized under 18 USC Section 2331 as acts of terrorism.”.
April 2011 – North Korea convicted American, Kenneth Bae for “hostile acts”, he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. Bae was a devout Christian who was the owner of a North Korean tour company.
March 2010 – North Korean torpedo attack sinks the Chenoan, a ship of the South Korean navy. Forty-six sailors were killed in the attack.
November 1987 – Two North Korean spies planted explosives on Korean Airline flight 858, all 115 people died as a result of the attack.
October 1983 – North Korean agents planted bombs in the roof of the Marty’s Mausoleum in Rangoon, Burma in order to try to assassinate the visiting South Korean president. The South Korean President survived, however, 21 others were killed.
August 1976 – US soldiers entered the demilitarized zone to trim a tree, members of the RKO service corps were attacked and two of the Americans were axed to death.
August 1974 – The mother of South Korean President, Park Geun-hye was murdered during a failed assassination attempt by a Japanese born North Korean.
April 1969 – 31 American crewmen were killed when a North Korean jet shot down a US reconnaissance aircraft on a routine flight.
North Korea and Cyber Terrorism(Warfare)
http://cybersecurity.mit.edu/2013/09/north-koreas-vast-cyber-warfare-army/
According to this article from MIT, North Korea has upwards of 200 agents dedicated to weakening the morale of South Koreans especially the young who have no personal recollections of the Korean War. There are also 3000 cyber warfare experts who work for the Reconnaissance General Bureau. The wage cyber terrorism against the government and people of South Korea.
The terror agency conducts cyber terrorism via roughly 140 sites dispersed throughout 19 countries. Roughly 27,000 propaganda items were posted against South Korea in 2011 and roughly 41,000 were posted in 2012. One aim of the cyber agents is to convince young South Koreans to feel pity for the people of the North and to thereby compel them to argue for the lessening of sanctions against the government of North Korea.
North Korea actively and aggressively promotes the teaching of hacking techniques to the young in order to train them to be cyber agents. This training is done at some elite middle schools in North Korea. Overall approximately 30,000 North Koreans are cyber agents working against South Korea, on the other side South Korea has only about 30 dedicated cyber agents working against the North. The article doesn’t specify what social media sites are used, however it is clear from the targeting of South Korean civilians, that the best way to reach them would be via social media.
A chronology of key events:
1945 – After World War II, Japanese occupation of Korea ends with Soviet troops occupying the north, and US troops the south.
1946 – North Korea’s Communist Party (Korean Workers’ Party – KWP) inaugurated. Soviet-backed leadership installed, including Red Army-trained Kim Il-sung.
1948 – Democratic People’s Republic of Korea proclaimed. Soviet troops withdraw.
1950 – South declares independence, sparking North Korean invasion.
1953 – Armistice ends Korean War, which has cost two million lives.
1960s – Rapid industrial growth.
1968 – US intelligence-gathering vessel seized by North Korean gunboats.
1969 – US reconnaissance plane shot down.
1972 – After secret North-South talks, both sides seek to develop
1980 – Kim Il-sung’s son, Kim Jong-il, moves up party and political ladder.
1991 – North and South Korea join the United Nations.
Kim Il-sung (1912-1994) was named “Eternal President” in 19981992 – North Korea agrees to allow inspections by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), but over next two years refuses access to sites of suspected nuclear weapons production.
1994 – Death of Kim Il-sung. Kim Jong-il succeeds him as leader, but doesn’t take presidential title. North Korea agrees to freeze nuclear programme in return for $5bn worth of free fuel and two nuclear reactors.
1995 – US formally agrees to help provide two modern nuclear reactors designed to produce less weapons-grade plutonium.
Flood and famine
1996 – Severe famine follows widespread floods.
Pyongyang announces it will no longer abide by the armistice that ended the Korean War, and sends troops into the demilitarised zone.
North Korean submarine runs aground in South.
1998 – The late Kim Il-song declared “eternal president”, while Kim Jong-il’s powers widened to encompass head of state.
UN food aid brought in to help famine victims.
North launches rocket which flies over Japan and lands in the Pacific Ocean. Pyongyang insists it fired a satellite, not a missile.
South Korea captures North Korean mini-submarine in its waters. Crew inside found dead.
Historic handshake
2000 – Summit in Pyongyang between Kim Jong-il and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung. North stops propaganda broadcasts against the South.
Senior journalists from South Korea visit the North to open up communication.
Under Kim Jong-il, North Korea suffered a severe famine and became a nuclear-armed power
Reopening of border liaison offices at the truce village of Panmunjom, in the no-man’s-land between the heavily fortified borders of the two countries.
South Korea gives amnesty to more than 3,500 prisoners.
One hundred North Koreans meet their relatives in the South in a highly-charged, emotional reunion.
2001 May – A European Union delegation headed by Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson visits to help shore up the fragile reconciliation process with South Korea. The group represents the highest-level Western diplomatic mission ever to travel to North Korea.
2001 June – North Korea says it is grappling with the worst spring drought of its history.
2001 August – Kim Jong Il arrives for his first visit to Moscow after an epic nine-day, 10,000-kilometre train journey from Pyongyang. Kim apparently dislikes flying.
2002 January – US President George W Bush says North Korea is part of an “axis of evil”, along with states such as Iraq and Iran. Pyongyang says Mr Bush has not stopped far short of declaring war.
2002 June – North and South Korean naval vessels wage a gun battle in the Yellow Sea, the worst skirmish for three years. Some 30 North Korean and four South Korean sailors are killed.
2002 September – Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visits, the first Japanese leader to do so. He meets Kim Jong-il who apologises for the abductions of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s.
Nuclear brinkmanship
2002 October-December – Nuclear tensions mount. In October the US says North Korea has admitted to having a secret weapons programme. The US decides to halt oil shipments to Pyongyang. In December North Korea begins to reactivate its Yongbyon reactor. International inspectors are thrown out.
North Korea says it needs nuclear weapons to defend itself from US “imperialism”
2003 January – North Korea withdraws from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a key international agreement aimed at preventing the spread of atomic weapons.
2003 April – Delegations from North Korea, the US and China begin talks in Beijing on North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, the first such discussions since the start of the nuclear crisis.
2003 July – Pyongyang says it has enough plutonium to start making nuclear bombs.
Six-nation talks
2003 August – Six-nation talks in Beijing on North Korea’s nuclear programme fail to bridge gap between Washington and Pyongyang.
2003 October – Pyongyang says it has reprocessed 8,000 nuclear fuel rods, obtaining enough material to make up to six nuclear bombs.
2004 April – More than 160 killed and hundreds more injured when train carrying oil and chemicals hits power line in town of Ryongchon.
2004 June – Third round of six-nation talks on nuclear programme ends inconclusively. North Korea pulls out of scheduled September round.
2004 December – Row with Japan over fate of Japanese citizens kidnapped and trained as spies by North Korea in 70s, 80s. Tokyo says eight victims, said by Pyongyang to be dead, are alive.
2005 February – Pyongyang says it has built nuclear weapons for self-defence.
2005 September – Fourth round of six-nation talks on nuclear programme concludes. North Korea agrees to give up its weapons in return for aid and security guarantees. But it later demands a civilian nuclear reactor.
2006 February – High-level talks with Japan, the first since 2003, fail to yield agreement on key issues, including the fate of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea.
2006 July – North Korea test-fires a long-range missile, and some medium-range ones, to an international outcry. Despite reportedly having the capability to hit the US, the long-range Taepodong-2 crashes shortly after take-off, US officials say.
2006 October – North Korea claims to test a nuclear weapon for the first time.
2007 February – Six-nation talks on nuclear programme resume in Beijing. In a last-minute deal, North Korea agrees to close its main nuclear reactor in exchange for fuel aid.
2007 May – Passenger trains cross the North-South border for the first time in 56 years.
2007 June – International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors visit the Yongbyon nuclear complex for the first time since being expelled in 2002. In July, they verify the shutdown of the Yongbyon reactor.
2007 August – North Korea appeals for aid after devastating floods.
Nuclear declaration
2007 October – Pyongyang commits to disable three nuclear facilities and declare all its nuclear programmes by year-end.
The presidents of North and South Korea pledge at a Pyongyang summit to seek talks to formally end the Korean war.
2007 November – North and South Korea’s prime ministers meet for the first time in 15 years.
2008 February – The New York Philharmonic performs a groundbreaking concert in Pyongyang – a move seen as an act of cultural diplomacy.
2008 February – South Korea’s new conservative President Lee Myung-bak says aid to North conditional on nuclear disarmament and human rights progress.
An all-pervasive personality cult surrounds North Korean leaders past and present
2008 March-April – North-South relations deteriorate sharply. North Korea expels Southern managers from joint industrial base, test-fires short-range missiles and accuses President Lee Myung-bak of sending a warship into Northern waters.
2008 June – In what is seen as a key step in the denuclearisation process, North Korea makes its long-awaited declaration of its nuclear assets.
2008 July – Soldier shoots South Korean woman in the Mount Kumgang special tourism area of North Korea, prompting further tensions.
Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hold talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear disarmament, the first such meeting for four years.
2008 September – North Korea accuses the US of not fulfilling its part of a disarmament-for-aid deal and says it is preparing to restart the Yongbyon reactor.
2008 October – The US removes North Korea from its list of countries which sponsor terrorism, in return for Pyongyang agreeing to provide full access to its nuclear sites.
2008 November – North Korea says it will cut off all overland travel to and from the South from December, and blames South Korea for pursuing a confrontational policy.
2008 December – Pyongyang says it will slow down work to dismantle its nuclear programme in response to a US decision to suspend energy aid. The US move came following the breakdown of international talks to end the country’s nuclear activities.
Nuclear tensions rise
2009 January – North Korea says it is scrapping all military and political deals with the South, accusing Seoul of “hostile intent”.
2009 April – North Korea launches a rocket carrying what it says is a communications satellite; its neighbours accuse it of testing long-range missile technology. After criticism from the UN Security Council, North Korea walks out of international six-party talks aimed at winding up its nuclear programme.
Kim Jong-il attends parliamentary vote to re-elect him leader, in his first major state appearance since a suspected stroke in 2008.
The sinking of South Korea’s Cheonan in 2010 ratcheted up tensions – already high – even further
2009 May – North Korea says it successfully carries out an underground nuclear test, its second ever, drawing protests from the US, China and Russia.
It also announces that it no longer considers itself bound by the terms of the 1953 truce that ended the war between the two Koreas.
Defence Secretary Robert Gates says US “will not accept” a nuclear-armed North Korea.
2009 June – North Korea sentences US journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee to 12 years hard labour for allegedly crossing the border illegally. They are freed in August, after former US President Bill Clinton visits to help secure their release.
UN Security Council votes unanimously to impose tougher sanctions. Pyongyang responds by saying it will view any US-led attempt to blockade the country as an “act of war” and that it plans to “weaponise” its plutonium stocks.
Tensions subside
2009 August – Pyongyang makes conciliatory gestures to Seoul. It sends a delegation to the funeral of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, frees four South Korean fishermen, and agrees to resume programme of family reunions.
2009 November – North Korea launches a confiscatory currency reform that causes disruption to private markets and unprecedented public protests into the New Year.
2009 December – US envoy Stephen Bosworth visits Pyongyang, reaches “common understanding” on need to resume six-nation talks on nuclear programme. In January, North Korea calls for an end to hostile relations with US and vows to strive for a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.
2010 February – The government reportedly eases restrictions on private markets after the currency revaluation of 2009 wiped out many cash savings.
Sinking of Cheonan
2010 March – Sinking of South Korean warship Cheonan, allegedly by the North, raises tensions to new heights.
2010 July – United States announces new sanctions on North Korea in response to sinking of Cheonan warship.
2010 September – As US President Obama signs new sanctions into law, the North makes overtures to the South, including an offer of more family reunions and acceptance of flood-damage aid.
Kim Jong-il’s youngest son Kim Jong-un is appointed to senior political and military posts, fuelling speculation that he is being prepared to succeed his father.
2010 November – North Korea shows an eminent visiting American nuclear scientist a vast new secretly-built facility for enriching uranium at its Yongbyon complex. The revelation sparks alarm and anger in Washington, Seoul and Tokyo.
Cross-border clash near disputed maritime border results in death of two South Korean marines. North Korea’s military insists it did not open fire first and blames South Korea for the incident.
2011 February – Foot and mouth disease hits livestock, threatening to aggravate desperate food shortages.
Succession
2011 December – Kim Jong-il dies. Kim Jong-un presides at his funeral, is hailed as “Great Successor” and takes over from his father as chairman of the National Defence Commission.
2012 February – Kim Jong-il is posthumously awarded the highest military title of Generalissimo – the same rank held by his father, Kim Il-sung.
Army pledges loyalty to his successor, Kim Jong-un, in a mass parade held to mark the 70th anniversary of Kim Jong-il’s birth.
2012 April – Kim Jong-un formally takes over ruling party leadership, becoming First Secretary of the Workers Party.
The launch of a “rocket-mounted satellite” to mark the birthday of Kim Il-Sung fails. Most observers think it was a long-range missile test of the sort that North Korea had agreed to suspend in return for US food aid. North Korea says it is no longer bound by the agreement, which also banned nuclear tests.
The Kaesong factory complex is seen as a symbol of North-South co-operation.
2012 July – Army head Ri Yong-ho is removed from senior posts in the ruling party, and leader Kim Jong-un appoints himself to the highest rank of marshal.
2012 August – The United Nations says North Korea has asked for urgent food aid after devastating floods in July.
2012 October – Days after South Korea and the US unveil a new missile deal, North Korea says it has missiles that can hit the US mainland.
2012 December – A North Korean rocket launch puts a satellite into orbit, after the failure to do so in April. The UN including China regard this as a violation of a ban on North Korean ballistic missile tests, as the rocket technology is the same.
Third nuclear test
2013 February – North Korea carries out a third nuclear test, said to be twice as big as the 2009 test. The UN Security Council approves fresh sanctions over the test.
2013 April – North Korea says it will restart all facilities at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex and withdraws its workers from the South-Korean-funded Kaesong joint industrial park.
2013 May – North Korea tests four short-range missile over one weekend. It also sentences US tour operator Kenneth Bae to hard labour for “anti-government crimes”.
2013 July – Panama charges crew of North Korean ship detained after it was found to be carrying weapons. Cuba says it sent the weapons to North Korea for repairs.
2013 September – North and South Korea reopen Kaesong joint industrial zone which was shut down in April amid heightened tension.
China bans export to North Korea of items that could be used to make missiles or nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
2013 December – Kim Jong-un’s uncle, Chang Song-thaek, is found guilty of attempting to overthrow the state and is summarily executed. The purging of Mr Chang – a powerful figure who had appeared to act as Mr Kim’s mentor when the young leader took power – is seen by analysts as indicating the biggest political shake-up in the country since the death of Kim Jong-il in 2011.
2014 March – Five-yearly parliamentary “election” held in which single approved candidates stand uncontested in 687 constituencies across the country. Turnout is officially put at 99.97 per cent.
North Korea test-fires two medium-range Nodong ballistic missiles for the first time since 2009, in violation of UN resolutions and just hours after the US, South Korea and Japan met in the Netherlands for talks. It also marks the fourth anniversary of the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan.
Information courtesy of the BBC, link is below.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-15278612