The Internet Black Hole That Is North Korea

Nrbelex writes "While other restrictive regimes have sought to find ways to limit the Internet — through filters and blocks and threats — North Korea has chosen to stay wholly off the grid. The New York Times discusses the total lack of 'net access facing the North Korean state, and what it means in the long term." From the article: "The South was illuminated from coast to coast, suggesting that not just lights, but that other, arguably more bedrock utility of the modern age -- information -- was pulsating through the population. The North was black. This is an impoverished country where televisions and radios are hard-wired to receive only government-controlled frequencies. Cellphones were banned outright in 2004. In May, the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York ranked North Korea No. 1 -- over also-rans like Burma, Syria and Uzbekistan -- on its list of the '10 Most Censored Countries.' That would seem to leave the question of Internet access in North Korea moot."

Comments

How 'bout just a black hole

[supertux]

It's not just the internet. Have you ever looked at North Korea using Google maps nighttime? North Korea is the black patch to the left of Japan. It is more amusing if you switch to "Dusk Map" as you can clearly see that the lack of lights match exactly with the boarders of South Korea and China.

Man, sucks to be them. My guess is the lack of electricity in the country is some sort of ploy to confuse all of our advanced weapons and smart bomb technology. ;-)

It is also worth checking out Afghanistan and Mongolia at night. From looking at their night time maps, I admit that I am just AMAZED at how awesome their energy conservation programs are. California could learn a lot from Afghanistan for sure. And Mongolia better not give the US any lip.

And if you are looking at the map, check out how well lit Iran is. I don't know about you, but with the amount of bright lights all over that country, I'm guessing the US wouldn't hit that. I think we like our bitches more backwards and with a southern accent. :-)

Re:How 'bout just a black hole

[ccmay]

My guess it's the lack of natural resources in North Korea, forcing them to have a predominantly pre-industrial society.

That's one of the most ill-informed excuses for the failure of collectivist economics that I've ever heard.

Ever hear of a place called Hong Kong? Or Singapore? Teeming with people, severely constrained for resources, and wealthier than any other places in Asia.

It's not the lack of resources. It's the Stalinist tyranny and socialist economic system. Only children, simpletons, and power-hungry ideologues believe in socialism any more. It is the ideology of the ant hill and the nursery school playground, unworthy of free men. It takes no more intellectual sophistication to believe in collectivism than to believe in Santa Claus, for the same reason and to the same effect. Collectivism has caused more human misery than any other idea of the human mind. With every vote I cast and every dollar I give to politicians, I am guided by my desire to see it crushed and swept off the face of the earth.

I used the internet in North Korea

[mumblestheclown]

Seriously. Was something like 60 euro per hour at the Yanggakdo Hotel in Pyongyang via satellite connection. I doubt it was censored or even monitored, though I'd be a fool to not at least concede the possibility.

Re:I used the internet in North Korea

[Ryu2]

Interesting -- when were you there? I was in Pyongyang October 2005, but stayed at the other big foreigner hotel, the Koryo. They had email access then but not Internet (web, etc) access.

The DPRK contacts that I made gave me their organization's email address; when I asked, they said they had organization email-boxes, and they were "working on" getting individual email addresses.

So yes, I can corrobrate that the DPRK is not completely isolated from the net. However, the Yanggakdo hotel is only for foreigners (and maybe top government officials who are above the law anyway), so the "Internet access" doesn't really count, as far as North Koreans themselves being able to get on the Net.

Computing in North Korea

[Ryu2]

I took a trip to the DPRK about a year ago, and had a chance to see a "computer lab" in one of the "showcase" high schools.

They are for the most part still using Win95, etc. As mentioned in the article, they have their own national intranet, but not Internet access. Sanctions probably make it difficult to get newer things.

Interestingly, for political reasons, they do not use the (South) Korean version of Windows, but rather they are working on their indigenous solution for entering text and displaying Korean script (hangul/chosongul).

Some pictures are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryu2/49295211/in/set- 1070525/

Re:Computing in North Korea

[Robaato]

Interesting...

Are the North Koreans aware that there actually IS a Korean version of Windows? This travelogue, from back when the World Cup was co-hosted by Japan and South Korea, suggests that they don't. I can easily imagine the North Korean government keeping mum on the existance of a South Korean division of Microsoft.

Two quotes:

Oddly enough the students were using the English version of Windows 98 rather than the Korean one. When I asked Mr. Huk why he looked at me like I was an idiot and said because there wasn't a Korean version. A 'fact' that must come as a huge surprise to Microsoft Korea!

When asked if he felt like they were missing out on all the great information available on the Net Mr. Huk just brushed us off with, "we already know the truth from our government. Why would we want to learn what others say?" Which, in a nutshell, seemed a pretty good explanation of North Korean thought as a whole.

Re:Whoever Dies With the Most Toys Wins

[Ihlosi]

They have no Internet, cellphones, hardly any lights at night. All those "modern" conveniences are important to science and engineering, especially science and engineering culture. Yet N Korea has apparently have nuclear bombs, one of the heights of tech achievement for any society.

How much internet and cellphones did the US have in the 1940s ?

Heck. The people who designed and built the first bomb didn't even have pocket calculators.

It's clear that they got the bomb tech from elsewhere.

Hm, well yeah. The knowledge that you can build these things has been around for over hald a century. The basic principles can now be found in pretty much any physics textbook, as opposed to _nowhere_ in the 1940s. Unemployed bomb-builders could be found in Russia.

It's nowhere near as hard to build a bomb now than it was 60-something years ago.

North korea internet contact

[viking80]

North korea claims they have a high speed nationwide network, but that they can not connect it to the internet since USA dominates it.

The official webpage of north korea is: www.voiceofkorea.org

You can contact a representitive here: DPRK@voiceofkorea.org

I actually offered them to install a wifi link for free from Seoul to Pyongyang. Here is the response:

===========
Hi

I deeply appreciate your advices.

However, we can not use the facility of South Korea at this time because the two governments did not yet agree for this project.

You are absolutely right that good communication can often overcome suspicion and disagreement.

I will forward your message to the concerned ministry of DPRK government, and I will inform you when I get response.
I will also tell you if any DORK company is interested in developing such project with you.

Thank you.

Sincerely yours

VOICE OF KOREA