A computer center at Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang. Photo: Uri Tours (CC BY 2.0) North Korean authorities have ordered intensive inspections at universities nationwide, including in Pyongyang, after seven students at Kim Chaek University of Technology were arrested. A source in Pyongyang said central authorities issued the directive on Aug. 3, after Kim Chaek University students were arrested by the National Intelligence Agency for developing new circumvention technology to bypass the state’s internet firewall, watch South Korean videos and distribute them. “The central authorities have designated the rapid spread of South Korean culture among science and technology talent as a serious threat to the system,” the source said. According to the source, the directive expressed fury that science and technology talent had used their skills to increase threats to the system, and warned that authorities would make an example of the students to root out the ideological deviation...

Popular South Korean cosmetics on offer in North Korean markets. Image: Daily NK Demand for South Korean cosmetics among North Korea’s wealthy elite shows no sign of slowing, and smugglers have begun repackaging the products into Chinese containers to slip past increasingly strict customs checks. “Even a passing reference to South Korea can bring punishment in North Korea, but preference for South Korean cosmetics remains high here,” a source in Ryanggang province told Daily NK on Friday. “In Hyesan, demand for South Korean cosmetics has recently spread beyond donju to their children as well.” Donju, meaning “masters of money,” is the term for North Korea’s class of merchants and traders who emerged after the country’s economy opened to informal markets. South Korean cosmetics are expensive and difficult to obtain because of the authorities’ crackdown, so simply using them has become a symbol of economic power, connections and social influence, according...

FILE PHOTO: A border patrol checkpoint in Pungso county, Ryanggang province, can be seen in this photo, which was taken in February 2019. (Daily NK) North Korea’s crackdown on smuggling along its border with China has cut off a key source of side income for state security agents who once profited from looking the other way. North Pyongan province security agents who built personal ties with smugglers to earn extra income are now seeing their standard of living slip, a Daily NK source in the province said Monday. Smuggling activity has sharply declined in border areas including Uiju county, and the downturn has hit not only the North Korean people who once made a living from the trade, but also the agents who profited alongside them. “Police officers are directly involved in public security and administrative affairs, so they have plenty of opportunities to make money on the side, but...

Students walking to classes at Kim Il Sung University (Kim Il Sung University website) North Korea’s Cabinet Ministry of Education has ordered major universities in Pyongyang to stamp out the ghostwriting of graduation theses, sparking anxiety among soon-to-graduate students and their faculty advisers, according to a source inside the country. The education ministry issued the directive in mid-August, telling each central university to “thoroughly eliminate” the practice of writing theses on students’ behalf, a Daily NK source in Pyongyang said Monday. Intensive inspections into how graduating students prepare their theses are expected to run for about a month. Inspectors are expected to focus on whether students personally chose their thesis topics and took part themselves in gathering research materials and drafting their papers, the source said. For students who have already finished their theses, examiners plan to check whether they understand the material well enough to explain it in their...

A view of Dandong, China, from the North Korean bank of the Yalu River, showing the Yalu River Broken Bridge and the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge. / Photo: Serapio (CC BY-SA 2.0) North Korea is overhauling its foreign trade system to route transactions only through official state trade organizations this year. Authorities have banned individual traders from using Chinese mobile phones, cutting off many of the trade connections those traders spent years building. A source in North Pyongan province told Daily NK on Friday that traders in Sinuiju and other areas along the Chinese border once used Chinese phones to communicate directly with Chinese counterparts on contract-manufacturing deals. Their position in that trade is rapidly weakening, the source said. In the past, authorities let traders who needed to negotiate delivery schedules and quality directly with Chinese partners register a Chinese phone with the security agency. Now authorities are confiscating even phones...