Seoul intelligence ties Web site to N. Korean gov't

Asian Political News, June 4, 2001

SEOUL, May 29 Kyodo

(EDS: DPRKOREA INFOBANK'S WEB SITE ADDRESS IS http://www.dprkorea.com)

DPRKorea Infobank, a Web site launched in Beijing in October 1999, is a project of the North Korean government, South Korea's main intelligence agency said Tuesday.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) confirmed on its own Web site that the site is North Korea's official site.

Until now, there had been no confirmation from Seoul as to whether the site was opened by a pro-North Korean organization or by the North Korean government.

The Web site lists its operator as the Pan-Pacific Economic Development Association of Korean Nationals, and states its goal is ''to offer Korean nationals and interested parties across the world up-to-date news and information what is happening in (North) Korea.''

The site carries articles released by the official Korean Central News Agency and by the Pyongyang Times, an English-language daily, as well as information on North Korean music, film and tourism.

Most of the information on the site is available free of charge, though some is accessible only by purchasing a one-year subscription, which can be acquired by wiring $300 to a major American bank in Hong Kong.

The Web site is available in Korean, Chinese, English and Japanese.

However, the Japanese version was recently made unavailable in protest of the Japanese government's approval of some history textbooks that critics say distort Japan's 1910-1945 colonization of Korea and its aggression against other Asian countries, and gloss over wartime atrocities.

The NIS said that it may be against laws governing electric telecommunication if South Korean citizens repeatedly check the Web site and distribute the contents to others.