Owner Korea 615 Shenyang Co. Commercial No | Website www.uriminzokkiri.com Type of site News | |
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Available in Korean (Northern dialect), English, Chinese, Japanese, Russian Editor Korea June 15 Edition Company (Chosŏn'gŭl: 조선륙일오편집사) Alexa rank 196,033 (Global, May 2015) Profiles | ||
Uriminzokkiri (Chosŏn'gŭl: 우리민족끼리, Korean for "Our race ourselves" / "Our race alone") is a state-controlled website that provides news from North Korea's Central News Agency. The site also distributes information over Twitter, YouTube and Flickr. The website's server is located in China.
History
In August 2010, Uriminzokkiri launched YouTube, Facebook and Twitter accounts in an effort to improve North Korea's image around the world. Uriminzokkiri maintains an account on the Chinese video platform Youku, and has uploaded more than 14,000 videos.
On 18 September 2012, Uriminzokkiri uploaded a video containing a photoshopped image of South Korea's president-elect Park Geun-hye performing the dance moves of "Gangnam Style". The video also mocks her as a devoted admirer of the Yushin system of autocratic rule set up by her father, Park Chung-hee.
On 5 February 2013, a film that featured New York in flames was removed from YouTube after a DMCA complaint filed by Activision due to the use of footage from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. On 19 March 2013, a new North Korean propaganda video was posted on the Uriminzokkiri YouTube channel that presented images of an imagined missile attack on U.S. government buildings in Washington, D.C., including the White House and the Capitol.
On 3 April 2013, hacker group Anonymous claimed it had stolen 15,000 user passwords as part of a cyberwar against the DPRK. Several hours later, Anonymous claimed responsibility for hacking into the Uriminzokkiri website and its Twitter and Flickr accounts.
On May 21, 2013, Uriminzokkiri claimed that North Korea's threat several times since 2012 to target Cheong Wa Dae using unmanned aerial vehicles instead of surface-to-surface missiles was intended to use "terrain features for cover". It also pointed out that the UAVs are capable of hitting Cheong Wa Dae in less than three minutes travelling at 925 km/h. The website further boasted that North Korean drones are also capable of attacking the Capital Defense Command on the southern side of Mt. Kwanak in southern Seoul. South Korea's top brass ignored these imminent provocations, just as they did in 2010 before the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan.
On March 24, 2014, weeks after Australian missionary John Short was deported from North Korea for "anti-state" religious acts, Uriminzokkiri released an article using biblical terms and references to describe the country as a utopian paradise. Titled "Korea is a human paradise in which Jesus would have nothing to do even if he came", the article portrays North Korea as a land with free healthcare, free education, and no taxes thanks to Kim Jong-un. The article claimed that its title is a direct quote from a famous American religious figure who visited North Korea but is not named throughout the article.