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Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

mydiplomaticlife.com

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Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#91

Post by dgfitz »

l33t7332273 wrote: post #86
RGamma wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a kajillion ways to extract info via analog hole from a well-known room. Unless this room has counter-measures (that are unlikely to be accepted by an authoritarian government) this ain't surprising really.

SCIF construction procedure is made explicitly to counter analog (and digital) intelligence collection. I highly suspect that if the government of a host country didn’t let a guest country follow standard construction procedures like the use of high density construction materials, then the guest country would either not continue construction of the diplomatic outpost or at the very least they would not proceed with u…

You must be very naive as to the general Conops of the NK government.

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#92

Post by l33t7332273 »

dgfitz wrote: post #91
l33t7332273 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SCIF construction procedure is made explicitly to counter analog (and digital) intelligence collection. I highly suspect that if the government of a host country didn’t let a guest country follow standard construction procedures like the use of high density construction materials, then the guest country would either not continue construction of the diplomatic outpost or at the very least they would not proceed with u…

You must be very naive as to the general Conops of the NK government.

Can you elaborate?

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#93

Post by jwrallie »

gwbas1c wrote: post #4

Weird, I tried to click on "Kimchi Harvest" to see a larger version. Instead, the link was to https://mydiplomaticlife.com/how-to-survive-3-years-in-north... , which just took me to the top of the article.

All the photos seem to have broken links, but for some of them you can get their direct link and remove the "-scaled" part to get a higher resolution. Not for the Kimchi one though.

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#94

Post by jrflowers »

sevensor wrote: post #39
gwbas1c wrote: post #6

Years ago, I was lucky enough to listen to a talk from an American who got to be a tourist in North Korea. Ever since then I've been fascinated with stories like this. North Korea is on my bucket list, but hopefully after the state loosens up.

Or, you can visit South Korea today, and if you want to go off the beaten path, leave Seoul. The east coast is a beautiful and fascinating place. Go to Gangwon, ride a cable car up Seoraksan, eat the best seafood of your life.

Or you could visit the world’s largest thermometer, float on the LSU lazy river. Go to Kerala and drink some delicious chai, watch the Rockies play a game in the Mile High Stadium. There is a whole world of things that are entirely unlike North Korea

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#95

Post by geoffreymcgill »

smcl wrote: post #80
kstrauser wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Iran doesn't chill my blood in the same way imagining being in North Korea does. I have no desire to go there. I wouldn't go if offered. It still strikes me as a more or less rational country that stridently disagrees with my own country's politics (and my own), not a boot stamping on a human face — forever.

Honestly I’d still like to visit both (particularly Iran) and I know people who have. But there is definitely advice you need to heed in both places (tbh in all places…)

I've been to both and can report a positive experience. The DPRK trip was fascinating. The thing I remember most about Iran is how friendly everyone was to us.

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#96

Post by why_at »

the_duke wrote: post #9

The post never mentions a date, but this must have been around 2000-2004, since that is when the UK embassy was established. [1] Some things have probably changed since then. A fascinating read regardless. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embassy_of_the_United_Kingdom,...

Curious if anyone knows of any more recent descriptions about what life is like in North Korea, like in the last 5-10 years. Most things I've read including this article are decades old.

How much have things changed there in terms of technology, food security etc?

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#97

Post by [deleted] »

RGamma wrote: post #68
V__ wrote: post #53

I'll preface this by saying that I can't support this with a source, so take it with a grain of salt. An acquaintance of mine knew someone who worked in that German embassy. Apparently, the extreme isolation of North Korea also made it extremely difficult to have any kind of opsec inside the embassy. Since anything could only be brought in through diplomatic pouches it created an attack vector of one. A few days afte…

There's a kajillion ways to extract info via analog hole from a well-known room. Unless this room has counter-measures (that are unlikely to be accepted by an authoritarian government) this ain't surprising really.

[deleted]

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#98

Post by Gunax »

V__ wrote: post #53

I'll preface this by saying that I can't support this with a source, so take it with a grain of salt. An acquaintance of mine knew someone who worked in that German embassy. Apparently, the extreme isolation of North Korea also made it extremely difficult to have any kind of opsec inside the embassy. Since anything could only be brought in through diplomatic pouches it created an attack vector of one. A few days afte…

Sorry I really want to understand this comment. Can you help?

> Since anything could only be brought in through diplomatic pouches it created an attack vector of one.

Are you presenting that as a good or bad thing? If there is only one attack vector, that makes it easier to defend against, right?

> One official let something slip, which meant a bug had somehow gotten into the scif.

You mean the North Korean or German official?

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#99

Post by damontal »

BizarreByte wrote: post #22
victorbjorklund wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A big political enemy of the saudi family that been a pain in their ass (rightly so since they are an evil dictatorship) vs random student that just took a poster as a souvernir. Not the same thing. Anyone can be killed in North Korea. 99,99999999999% of people are not on the saudi familys enemy list.

> random student that just took a poster as a souvernir. Let's not mince words here, he stole government property in a country with some of the harshest laws on earth. Did he deserve to die for it? No, but it was an incredibly stupid thing to do.

Nice victim blaming.

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#100

Post by kevindamm »

pasquinelli wrote: post #79
jrockway wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maybe in the next life... I told myself this about an important decision. I thought about it more and decided I didn't really believe in that (proof: what do you remember from your last life), so just did it in this one. No regrets!

you'll eventually forget this life too, so i'm not sure about your proof ;)

A consistent, but perhaps incomplete, model.
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