back to article Norks blame U.S. for TITSUP internet, unleash racist rant against Obama

North Korea has launched a personal attack against Barak Obama and blamed the US after its internet connection went titsup earlier this week. A Nork official at the National Defence Commission (NDC), chaired by supreme leader Kim Jong Un, reportedly said today: "Obama always goes reckless in words and deeds like a monkey in a …

  1. Florida1920
    Holmes

    Now we KNOW where the Sony hackers got "G.O.P" from

    "Obama always goes reckless in words and deeds like a monkey in a tropical forest."....

    disrupting the internet operations of the main media outlets of our republic

    The Norks are obviously all Republicans.

    1. Richard Ball

      Re: Now we KNOW where the Sony hackers got "G.O.P" from

      Such shameful accusation belches daily from the corrupt western tongue of the whining liberal.

      1. Florida1920
        Headmaster

        Re: Now we KNOW where the Sony hackers got "G.O.P" from

        Such shameful accusation belches daily from the corrupt western tongue of Rush Limbaugh.

        FTFY.

        1. Kumar2012

          Re: Now we KNOW where the Sony hackers got "G.O.P" from

          Lets take a list of satirical things said by Rush out of context and prove Rush is racist. I as a brown guy am proud to say I have listened to Rush for over 20 years, and for those 20 years his call screener and confidant has been an African American man, wow so much racism from Rush, lels. The only racism I come across as a minority conservative is from liberals. If you want to see true racism ask liberals who want to keep African Americans on the Democrat plantation generation after generation as indentured slaves only good for their votes and never given a chance to improve their lives, and now they are even losing that status for the new minority block of choice to be used for votes, the Latinos. If you want to talk misogyny and sexism once again no need to look any further than the vile filth spewed by liberals towards conservative women, as the saying goes if not for double standards you leftists wouldn't have any at all.

      2. I. Aproveofitspendingonspecificprojects

        Re: Now we KNOW where the Sony hackers got "G.O.P" from

        Can we please have less of this rhetoric and more battle plans from the politicanny on here. I just read about how to deal with Saudi Arabia on the glorious federation of Elregeration.

        Now, lets get on with retribution for the Norks in the name of the free world.

    2. Bleu

      Re: Now we KNOW where the Sony hackers got "G.O.P" from

      I came out with a subtler take on the same a week ago. In before!

  2. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Elephants in the room

    Why all this concern with the origin of the hacking? It's probably some bored kids who received a bribe, which they'll later realize is 0.2% of the going rate. Networks need to get serious about shutting down bot armies and unplugging peers who willingly host them. Clean up your network and fix your abuse contacts or get off the Internet. I'm talking to you, Yahoo, EIG, China, Jordan, Taiwan, and Korea. I'm betting that all of these attacks would vanish with a few cables unplugged from the right places, and nobody would notice any side effects except for a huge drop in spam and unauthorized login attempts.

    1. Florida1920

      Re: Elephants in the room

      "Networks need to get serious about shutting down bot armies and unplugging peers who willingly host them."

      You can identify a bot coming from a pwned usr on a large U.S. ISP, contact the ISP with log details ad infinitum.... And expect absolutely no response. FFS, if they can monitor phone calls and archive all emails they can detect bot-related packets and turn off the connection.

      1. Crazy Operations Guy

        Re: Elephants in the room

        I've always figured that the NSA could get back into everyone's good graces by actually protecting our communications infrastructure: use their packet capture abilities to identify malicious traffic going across the wires and either report the packets to ISPs for remediation or block such connections if one end is in a foreign country. If they can track people based on a few key words, they sure as hell can track infections and botnets.

        Hell, they could also release an Open-source security suite to add some transparency to their operations and gain at least a little trust with certain communities across the internet.

      2. I. Aproveofitspendingonspecificprojects

        Re: Elephants in the room

        Assuming the bloody elephant isn't the bot net, that is.

    2. Crazy Operations Guy

      "Unplugging peers"

      Oh that's cute, you think they have more than 1 peer. They only have a single peer, and that peer only advertises their ASN to one other peer, so its no wonder that their internet link falls over so often. Hell, I'm surprised that it stays up as much as it does...

      http://bgp.he.net/AS131279#_graph4

  3. Harry the Bastard

    jong un's a wrong 'un

    if the rest of the world cut off all electron communication with his loathsome regime it'd be a good move, the majority of the population would see no impact whatsoever and it'd at least annoy the ones at the top of the pile

    but china will always look after them, and it's a fair bet that his serene bloatedness and chums will have satellite phones etc. to keep in touch with their foie gras and truffle connections

    1. keithpeter Silver badge
      Windows

      Re: jong un's a wrong 'un

      "but china will always look after them..."

      Up to a point. Will be interesting to see at what point the puppet masters decide it is time for a change of puppets...

  4. Gerard Krupa
    Black Helicopters

    Someone just got the James Bond box set

    and decided to play out the plot of Tomorrow Never Dies

  5. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Paris Hilton

    Explain!

    "Obama always goes reckless in words and deeds like a monkey in a tropical forest."

    The racist remark...

    It is now racist to call someone a monkey?

    So how about the "running capitalist dog lackeys"?

    1. Mark 85

      Re: Explain!

      I believe there's a cultural thing there. Much like "running dogs", "lackeys" and one of my favorites from a former defense spokesman: "If the Americans show up, we will beat their tanks with old shoes.". What's common in some cultures can be interpreted differently in others. Much the same as word "bloody" between the UK and other English speakers.

      It also seems the more liberal side of the press (the same ones that keep harping on the race thing and stoking the riot fires) were the first to scream "racisit"). Though, if they were truly "race blind", they wouldn't pick up on the implied racial connotation.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Explain!

        > Though, if they were truly "race blind", they wouldn't pick up on the implied racial connotation.

        Well, I still haven't. I can see how calling someone a monkey can be derogatory (which is rather the point of an insult), but racist?

    2. Mike Bell

      Re: Explain!

      People from South East Asia have a thing about being referred to as monkeys. A friend from Malaysia once got the idea that I had likened her to a monkey (actually I hadn't) and she went ape shit. Pardon the pun.

      It probably wasn't meant as a racist remark at all, just a mighty slur on Obama's character, from a North Korean perspective.

      1. frank ly

        Re: Explain!

        When I was a little kid, my grandad (and dad, mum, etc) would call me a 'little monkey' when I did something naughty or disruptive. I'm sure they intended no racial slur.

      2. Bleu

        Re: Explain!

        She wouldn't happen to have been ethnically malay and muslim by any chance? They are muslim by constitutional decree in Malaysia, though not, of course, in Singapore.

        I am not sure if Islam considers monkeys unclean in the same way as dogs, but I suspect it does. While in Singapore, I witnessed the huge outrage that ensued when an acquaintance called an ethnic malay a dog, not without justification given the latter's behaviour at the time.

        I do know, however that hatred of monkeys is widespread among at least the more red-necked malays.

        This is as a way of getting at the ethnic chinese, since monkeys have a special place in chinese folklore and religion, both folk religion and the sino-buddhist tale of the mission to Ghandara.

        In more than one case in the past, monkeys in public places were poisoned just to spite the ethnic chinese.

        By the way, it isn't wise to generalise from 'Malaysia' to 'south-east Asia'.

    3. Frankee Llonnygog

      Re: It is now racist to call someone a monkey?

      Yes.

      http://theconversation.com/the-ape-insult-a-short-history-of-a-racist-idea-14808

      1. scrubber
        Headmaster

        Re: It is now racist to call someone a monkey?

        Except he was referred to as acting as out of control as a monkey in a tropical forest, not as a monkey (never mind an ape) and may have been intended as racist or not, but there is no need for our media outlets to state it as fact that it was racist.

        1. Ole Juul

          Re: It is now racist to call someone a monkey?

          . . . but there is no need for our media outlets to state it as fact that it was racist.

          In fact it is somewhat offensive. Even if the author is fluent in NK language and culture and knows for a fact that this is intended to be racist, there is no need to fan the flames. Also, if perhaps the original statement was not intended that way, then the author would be expressing his own racism.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: It is now racist to call someone a monkey?

          Exactly, context is everything and it doesn't seem intended to be racist to me. How stereotypical of the American media to jump to ignorant conclusions though dissapointing that el reg would follow those same assumptions.

          1. Frankee Llonnygog

            Re: It is now racist to call someone a monkey?

            On reflection, I feel we may have been unfair in calling Mr Kim a racist. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he is an equal-opportunity murderer and torturer

    4. PNGuinn
      Trollface

      Re: Explain!

      Personally I think it should be seen as a gross insult to the monkeys. And the forests. And the bears who use them....

  6. Mark 85

    Misdirection still?

    I seriously doubt that the GOP is NK. Their first threats were about money NOT the damn movie. Only after some major media outlets mentioned the movie did the hijackers change their tune and demands. Very fishy.

    As for the NK 'Net (such that it is) going tits-up... let's think about a couple of things. The NK's 'Net comes through China and China is rather silent on this. I would think that any attacks on the NK network would create a bit (understatement) of traffic that China would see or may even cause some collateral damage there. Logic says the Chinese are trying to rein in NK a bit as they (the Chinese) don't really want to piss of the West and their investments and spending.

    Reports are it's down again along with the 3G network today and still no statement from China. They have the keys and either they're not saying anything or they're doing it. But there's no corroborating reports that it is actually down.

    There is a bit of some paranoia in that perhaps the Chinese are using the NK's to stir the pot but I would hope that they are smarter than that as their economy, while booming, is starting to slow down a bit. Backlash could create unintended consequences for them.

  7. channel extended
    Headmaster

    Mikey Strikes back!!

    It's either a bored twelve year old Mikey running a DDOS from his tablet, or the Lizard Squad using the Nork's machines as a bot net. Face it. That cat3 cable to China needs to be replaced.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Conspiracy theory:

    It was the US gov, to shunt the torture report and the NSA's "Oops" list off the front page with some classic bread and circuses. Kim Jong (especially after a couple of days of having his internet stuttered) can be guaranteed to Baghdad Bob his way into the front pages for at least a few days. By which time, something else will have happened.

    1. Ole Juul

      Re: Conspiracy theory:

      especially after a couple of days of having his internet stuttered

      There is satellite coverage for Kim. I think it is unlikely that this is making any significant difference to his personal connection. See here and here.

  9. Henry Wertz 1 Gold badge

    Re: North Korean ISPs

    Firstly, I agree, this comment was obviously meant as an insult, but I don't think it's racial, I think they would have called Bush a "monkey in a tropical forest" too.

    Second... I've heard some news-drones seeming to think it'd be very difficult to knock an *entire country's* internet offline. Normally it is... but what does North Korea have, like 1 leased line running in? I mean, last I heard even most "north korean" web sites were actually being served out of datacenters in China or Japan.

    I wonder if this is a false flag operation? Some analysts suggest that the attack on Sony does not have the characteristics of a typical North Korean cyber-attack. And, a number of groups could DDOS service on the relatively small scale that North Korea has. But who would even benefit from souring relations with North Korea? The Russians? South Korea? Someone's just doing it for the lulz?

  10. Purple-Stater

    Balderdash

    At least from an (American) English grammatical perspective, that was no "racist rant". It is simply a behavioral comparison. Certainly, it should be considered to be insulting, as it implies that a persons actions are ill-mannered and not intelligently thought-out, but there's nothing racist about it.

  11. The_Idiot

    Hmmm.

    North Korean media possibly (or possibly not - cultural differences are hard to interpret) likens elements of American President's behaviour to (old classification) another simian (New World monkeys, Old World monkeys, apes, and humans).

    In other news, movie makers blow North Korean political leader into assorted virtual fragments.

    According to some, one of these is more offensive than the other. For some value of 'some'. And some other value of 'more'. Sigh...

  12. PNGuinn
    Facepalm

    Insults, Insults

    Didn't we read recently that in a recent survey USians rated their politicians somewhere below headlice?

    C'mon Kim baby you and your mates need learn some real grown up insults before you shoot your mouthes off. I seem to remember in your dad's day....

    Come to think of it, either you yanks are particularly blessed with your politicos or you're just too polite. Looking at our lot on this side of the pond that's not the sort of lice that come immediately to mind.

    1. Version 1.0 Silver badge

      Re: Insults, Insults

      It's a common fallacy that in a Democracy you get the Government that you want - that's not actually true, usually you get the Government you deserve.

      Quite honestly, head lice are preferable to spending time with most US politicians.

      1. Florida1920

        Re: Insults, Insults

        usually you get the Government you deserve

        As Will Rogers famously said, "It's a good thing we don't get all the government we pay for."

        Meanwhile, NK isn't getting all the Internet it pays for. Will we be hearing about IT types being fed to the dogs?

        1. Mark 85
          Joke

          Re: Insults, Insults

          Meanwhile, NK isn't getting all the Internet it pays for. Will we be hearing about IT types being fed to the dogs?

          They tried to called AT&T's Customer Service to complain, but the lines were all busy.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Insults, Insults

            "They tried to called AT&T's Customer Service to complain, but the lines were all busy."

            When they did finally get through, they were told it was advertised as UP TO 2.5Gb/s* and told to sod off.

      2. LateNightLarry
        Pint

        Re: Insults, Insults

        Actually, THAT's not true either... (usually you get the Government you deserve)... you get the government the one percent have bought for a year or two... Trouble is, they refuse to stay bought and the one percent has to keep spending money to keep them bought.

        Beer because there isn't a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon available...

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Kim Jong Un

    Stop being such a stupid dick.

    1. Winkypop Silver badge

      Re: Kim Jong Un

      NORKS read the Register!

      Or maybe even the Great Leader himself!!

      Idiot.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Racist?

    How's calling someoene a monkey racists? I do it all the time with my children; "Get down from there you little monkey!"

  15. Bleu

    What nonsense

    Calling someone a monkey or an ape is not necessarily racist, and when it is racist, it is an equal-opportunity insult, thrown around in all directions.

    Reminds me of the old off-line (and later on-line) meme:

    'Aww, you jes' sayin' that 'cos I'm black.'

    I thought their descriptions of Kerry as a wolf having a hideous lantern jaw (which he does) and the pres. in Sth. Kor. as a whore were also funny.

    Shame on a reg. writer for thoughtlessy aping such manufactured outrage.

    Offended?

    You do know that 'ape' in that sense has no direct connection to simians, right?

    1. Bleu

      Re: What nonsense

      Not to mention that 'monkey' is a not uncommon pet name and affectionate nickname for children, friends, and lovers in many cultures, including, I suspect, *with reason*, korean.

      Not saying that was the sense in which the Nth. Koreans were using it, just that it further undermines the 'ooh, racist' thing.

  16. phil dude
    Joke

    scientifically speaking...

    there is no race, that is a human (which we all are) contrived dogma used to be nasty to people that don't look like you*.

    Calling someone a monkey is at worst, evolutionist. As Douglas Adams said in "the Guide"

    "Humans are not proud of their ancestors, and rarely invite them round to dinner."

    P.

    *perceptions may differ depending on EtoH...

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