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North Korea Blocks Data Access For Foreigners

According to Reuters, foreigners in North Korea who formerly had online access via the country's 3G network have now been blocked from using it, in the wake of a fire at Pyongyang's Koryo Hotel, though it was not immediately clear whether the two events are related. Vox.com has an interesting look into what internet access is like for North Koreans, but as the linked Reuters report explains, access is in general much freer for residents as well as visiting foreigners.

1 of 28 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Wow by thisisauniqueid · · Score: 4, Informative

    Yes, foreigners have had Internet access for about 3 years now. (There are a few hundred foreigners posted in North Korea at any given time.) Of course network traffic is monitored, and everyone using the network knows that, but journalists visiting North Korea have used the network to get stories out quickly.

    There are two different cellphone networks in the country -- the network used by locals, with up to 2 million subscribers already, and with only country-wide intranet access, and the network used by foreigners. You can't place calls between the two networks, and the phones on the two networks look different, so that North Korean minders can easily spot a local using a foreign cellphone illegally.