North Korea's 'Paradise' Noted in Meeting Deciding 'Military Action Plan Against South'

At a meeting held in Pyongyang, North Korea, last July, the self-developed video conferencing program 'Rakwon' was seen running on the wall.
[Photo by Chosun Central TV]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] As the COVID-19 pandemic continues for an extended period, non-face-to-face culture is steadily expanding, and especially worldwide, the online platform Zoom is widely used. Amid this, North Korea's self-developed video conferencing program 'Rakwon' (Nakwon) is gaining attention.

According to the US-based North Korea specialist media 38 North on the 13th (local time), Rakwon was developed by Kim Il Sung University and first reported in 2012 but did not receive much attention. However, Rakwon emerged with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, and the media reported that it is now actively used by the government, companies, and public offices.

Korean Central TV regularly showed scenes of Rakwon being used nationwide in workplaces and factories when reporting COVID-19 related news. In addition, Rakwon has been spotted in use at various places such as the Meteorological Hydrology Bureau (Meteorological Agency) and the Pyongyang Power Distribution Office's Science and Technology Department.

In particular, Rakwon was used at least twice last year in meetings presided over by State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong Un.

In a COVID-19 response report aired by Chosun Central TV last January, the scene of 'Rakwon' appeared. [Photo by Chosun Central TV]

First, it is understood to have been used at the Central Military Commission's preliminary meeting held on June 23 last year. The meeting was unusually conducted solely via non-face-to-face video conferencing, and amid a tense inter-Korean situation, Chairman Kim decided to suspend the military action plan against the South.

The second instance was on July 25, a month later, at the Party Political Bureau's emergency expanded meeting held to discuss the COVID-19 situation in Kaesong City. At that time, Korean Central News Agency reported that cabinet and central agency party and administrative officials, executive committee members of provincial party committees, and officials of provincial-level institutions participated as observers through the video conference room.

The first meeting's footage was not released, but in the photos of the second meeting that were made public, Chairman Kim and 26 senior officials are seated around, and a large screen installed on the meeting room wall displays what appears to be Rakwon running.

Meanwhile, after the COVID-19 situation made dense events like entrance ceremonies difficult, Rakwon has also been used in North Korean schools. Remote classes using Rakwon, as well as an elementary school entrance ceremony conducted via Rakwon in June last year, were captured. Although Rakwon is used as a major video conferencing platform within North Korea, it is not used internationally. Instead, some foreign video conferencing options such as the Chinese platform 'VOOV' can be used.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.