christ0ph

The picture of your home page is showing a problem with PHP's connection to mysql. Sometimes people using databases (like mysql, postgresql, etc), forget to change the default passwords making them extremely easy for people to "hack". What you need is to learn the simple security precautions - which apply to mysql and PHP so that you can do the minimal things that will keep "script kiddies" and even determined hackers out of your site. Use long, random passwords which contain both letters and numbers and punctuation marks, and change them frequently is the best advice. Of course, change the default usernames and passwords and also, change the passwords regularly. (say once every month or two months)

There is a very good German film "The Lives of Others" that I think is the best film Ive seen on totalitarianism. If you have a chance, check it out. I don't know if there is a Korean subtitled version but there should be.

Ive enjoyed lots of Korean films. Film is a great way of communicating things that are hard to say verbally.

Do you mean Ali Lameda? He was a Venezuelan communist, a poet, and he was imprisoned by the Kim Il Sung regime. Eventually, he was freed by (of all people) Nicolai Ceausescu of Romania, who wrote Kim Il Sung a personal letter asking for his release. After he got out he wrote his book, which is the only account of a Westerner imprisoned in the NK gulag.

Hello, I have been interested in the situation in North Korea for a long time and would like to help in some way. I used to blog about North Korea but I now think that I could do more working with other people. Another big interest of mine is radio. Around a year ago I discovered the $10-20 "/r/rtlsdr" RTL2832 DVB-T dongles and using one I and many others have made what seem to be the smallest and cheapest - but at the same time very powerful shortwave radios around. (You can see them working on youtube here) I think the size and low cost of these radios (extremely small and extremely inexpensive for capabilities which would cost hundreds of dollars before!) makes them a natural to use in North Korea - but they require computers to work. Because the radio is mostly implemented in the software. Would you know of any North Korean defectors who are also interested in radio and electronics who might want to learn a bit about this? The radios can be so very - small - they are basically the size of your thumb. The shortwave capability would be in "direct sampling mode".

Could you tell us a bit about NK's songbun system. How much does it still rule people's lives?