What is the level of science, technology, and IT in North Korea?
Characteristics of Technological Development in North Korea
Since the 1950s, the level of light industry in North Korea is very weak compared to the heavy and chemical industry as it pursues economic growth centered on the heavy and chemical industry, which is closely related to military technology.
In contrast, for North Korea, the development of rockets and long-range rockets amounts to the most important state-run projects politically, diplomatically and militarily, so it is putting in the budget and manpower equivalent to a decent aerospace organization. On December 12, 2012, it launched the world's 10th self-propelled rocket light satellite.
North Korea's Key Science and Technology Areas
There are many coal-based chemical industries such as vinylon and main fertilizer. The main fertilizer is a nitrogen fertilizer made by reacting gases such as hydrogen obtained by gasifying coal with nitrogen, and is made profitably in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The problem is that North Korea's technology is poor and inefficient, so production costs are high, so it is difficult to sell coal to China and buy fertilizer with that money.
North Korea's nuclear weapons development
It also developed nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons are nothing short of a key keyword to guarantee the North's dead-end regime in every way, and they have insisted on building a strong nation by possessing nuclear weapons to the people. However, in the process, North Korea, which thinks human lives are nothing, pushed ahead with safety, and in fact, workers who are suffering from radiation were born.
North Korea's Hydrogen Bomb
At 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 6, 2016, they say they have a hydrogen bomb, but there is only an artificial earthquake to prove it. According to domestic and foreign experts, it is considered a nuclear bomb, not a hydrogen bomb, as it is considered too weak to be the power of a hydrogen bomb.
In fact, data released by the South Korean National Intelligence Service said that the bomb was about 6 kt, which was weaker than the Little Boy that fell on Hiroshima. As you can see from the hydrogen bomb category, the hydrogen bomb is not this powerful.
However, on September 3, 2017, the sixth nuclear test with 250kt power was conducted, perhaps due to progress from a steady nuclear test. This force reached the highest safety position of the Punggye-ri test site, the site of North Korea's nuclear test, and in fact, the sixth nuclear test partially collapsed inside the Punggye-ri mine, and a second artificial earthquake wave was observed.
North Korea's Successful Development of ICBMs
It claimed that the ICBM was successfully launched at 3:30 on Tuesday, July 4, 2017. If North Korea's claim is true, it will become one of the few countries with ICBM technology in the world and have the means to hit the U.S. mainland. For this reason, long-range rocket technology is better in North Korea, except for sensors such as inertial navigation systems.
North Korea's Cyber Strategy Hacking Cases
Recently, they are trying to gain financial advantage by training hackers. In 2016, North Korea hacked the code of the International Financial Telecommunications Association (SWIFT) computer network and stole 81 million dollars. In 2017, the U.S. Internet security company "Fire Eye" also said, "It was revealed that North Korea hacked the cryptocurrency exchange in Korea in May this year." North Korea has attempted to hack the "Bank of Korea" several times over the past four years from 2013 to this year, the report showed.
North Korea's attempts to steal technology from other countries
Due to the nature of North Korea, where access to information through the Internet is extremely limited and internationally sanctioned, technology exchanges with foreign countries are not carried out in North Korea through normal channels. Therefore, they sometimes attempt to steal other people's skills through espionage or hacking.
We infiltrated South Korea to steal the seed of the variety-improved cornThere are already quite a few related cases, such as the case of Choi Jeong-nam and Kang Yeon-jung's husband-and-wife espionage, the case of hacking the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute with nuclear power plant technology, and the case of hacking Pfizer to steal COVID-19 vaccine technology.