While the cult of personality and closed borders make North Korea seem like another world, its people are not strangers to entertainment. A recent documentary by Johnny Harris explores North Korea's film industry, from Kim Jong-il's obsession to the abduction of actresses. But beyond cinema, there's also karaoke, known as noraebang in both Koreas.
Martyn Williams from the blog North Korea Tech has shared details about a karaoke machine designed for the North Korean market. Thanks to enthusiast Will Scott, we know more about the Tianchi v700, a machine that is actually Chinese in origin but adapted for North Koreans.
The Tianchi v700: A Karaoke Machine for North Korea
The device has a 19-inch touchscreen, runs a kiosk-mode Android, uses an Allwinner SoC, and supports USB, WiFi, and Ethernet, but works offline. All music is stored on a conventional hard drive, with a label reading "Songs of North Korea" written in Chinese. While Chinese songs are unprotected, all 42 GB of North Korean content are encrypted.
However, researchers found that the encryption simply uses a static key 87654321. As a result, the entire 42 GB collection is available on the Internet Archive.
Sources:North Korea Tech, Hackaday
