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DPRK Textbooks
- perihelions 5y agoI think some of these aren't North Korean-authored, but international textbooks in unofficial translation. For example, Google matches code samples from "CTBooks1/ANSI_C++.pdf" to this textbook from 1999 (and the front-cover graphic is identical), https://books.google.com/books/about/Object_oriented_Software_in_ANSI_C++.html?id=uOJQAAAAMAAJ https://books.google.com/books/about/Object_oriented_Softwar... I think the version they're translating is a UK print edition, because the currency unit in the code is "£". But the series about Red Star OS [0] are very certainly DPRK-authored. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Star_OS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Star_OS The music textbooks are worth noticing (they're very obviously North Korean -- e.g. "Lesson 1. Song of Kim Il-sung"). It's all in Western notation. References both Western and Korean instruments. There's bow markings on the score of "Song of Kim Il-sung", so I infer that violins are at least somewhat common in secondary schools (or why else are they there?)
- contingencies 5y agoI would assume they copy Chinese textbooks as it's the only border. I wonder if, when discussing ANSI C++, they admit what ANSI means.
- bluepizza 5y agoYes. There is a huge difference between normal population and party or military members. The elites have access to education.
- brian-armstrong 5y agoThe 'A' is short for Juche
- monocasa 5y agoThey copy anything. They don't have a legal concept of copyright in North Korea, so why wouldn't they? And their CS majors supposedly have monitored but uncensored access to general internet. I'm sure they know that the A in ANSI means American.
- kevin_thibedeau 5y agoAt least it covers UML. That'll set them back a few decades.
- asdfge4drg 5y agohaha. someone introduce Agile to North Korea. They're not going anywhere now.
- smhost 5y agoThey share a border with Russia as well.
- CodeGlitch 5y ago> I would assume they copy Chinese textbooks as it's the only border. Could be from Hong Kong when they used sterling?
- TedDoesntTalk 5y agoIf you want to hear English short wave radio broadcasts from North Korea, it is quite entertaining. Here's what to do: 1. Choose the time you want to listen and note the "target area" at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_of_Korea#English https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_of_Korea#English 2. Choose a WebSDR in the "target area" from this list: http://kiwisdr.com/public/ http://kiwisdr.com/public/ 3. Tune the WebSDR to the correct frequency and listen. You might try a 2 or 3 different WebSDRs in the "target area" in order to get the best reception The broadcasts are much shorter than an hour, contrary to what Wikipedia says. The format is usually: 1. National anthem (very imposing and sounds like a Soviet military anthem in my opinion) 2. News / headlines. This lasts maybe 3-5 minutes and then is repeated several times 3. Music Sometimes the music is before the news. Last time I listened, it was the 73rd anniversary of North Korea's indepedennce and so the news was about all of the congratulations from other nations -- the list of which was quite amusing (Cuba, Syria, Iran, Uzbekistan, China, Russia others I don't recall).
- themodelplumber 5y agoIf you live somewhere like the US west coast you can even use an $8 digital shortwave radio (V-111 is a good reference model of this type) and it's very easy to pick them up in the morning, just go for a walk and hit scan. Same with Cuban numbers stations. When you're tired of inscrutable audio you can switch over to RNZ or BBC Pacifica and there's often good programming.
- TedDoesntTalk 5y agoDo you have frequencies for the Cuban number stations?
- op00to 5y agoPart of the fun is discovering the communities that follow this stuff.
- TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
- themodelplumber 5y agoThat's awesome. Sometime I'd also love to see a file tree rundown of the USBs that were airdropped too. I'm curious about the contents but also how much was translated or even published directly for recipients.
- willscott 5y agoI uploaded these a few years back. glad to see people running across them! They came from a DPRK tablet, and it took some reversing work to recover the PDFs. There's a talk about what went into getting them uploaded: https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-9279-dprk_consumer_technology https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-9279-dprk_consumer_technology