Telecommunications in North Korea
North Korea has not fully adopted mainstream Internet technology due to some restrictions on foreign interventions.
[3] Most of these are installed in government offices, collective farms, and state-owned enterprises (SOEs), with only perhaps 10 percent controlled by individuals or households.
[7][8] In December 2008, a new mobile phone service was launched in Pyongyang, operated by Egyptian company Orascom, but the North Korean government immediately expropriated control of the enterprise and its earnings.
[15] Orascom reported 432,000 North Korean subscribers after two years of operation (December 2010),[16] increasing to 809,000 by September 2011,[17] and exceeding one million by February 2012.
Pre-paid SIM cards can be purchased by visitors to North Korea to make international (but not domestic) calls.
Prior to January 2013, foreigners had to surrender their phones at the border crossing or airport before entering the country, but with the availability of local SIM cards this policy is no longer in place.
[25] North Korean mobile phones use a digital signature system to prevent access to unsanctioned files, and log usage information that can be physically inspected.
[4] Following the agreement with UNDP, the Pyongyang Fiber Optic Cable Factory was built in April 1992 and the country's first optical fiber cable network consisting of 480 pulse-code modulation (PCM) lines and 6 automatic exchange stations from Pyongyang to Hamhung (300 kilometers or 190 miles) was installed in September 1995.
[37] Moreover, the nationwide land leveling and rezoning campaign initiated by Kim Jong-il in Kangwon province in May 1998[38] and in North Pyongan province in January 2000[39] facilitated the construction of provincial and county fiber optic lines, which were laid by tens of thousands of Korean People's Army (KPA) soldier-builders and provincial shock brigade members mobilized for the large-scale public works projects designed to rehabilitate the hundreds of thousands of hectares of arable lands devastated by the natural disasters in the late 1990s.
Broadcasting in North Korea is tightly controlled by the state and is used as a propaganda arm of the ruling Korean Workers' Party.
Imported Japanese-made color televisions have a North Korean brand name superimposed, but nineteen-inch black-and-white sets have been produced locally since 1980.
In order to buy a TV set or radio, North Korean citizens are required to get special permission from officials at their places of residence or employment.
[41] In August 2016, it was reported that North Korea had launched a state-approved video streaming service which has been likened to Netflix.
The state TV channel Korean Central Television (KCTV) described the service as a "respite from radio interference".
[44] In 2018, North Korea unveiled a new Wi-Fi service called Mirae ("Future"), which allowed mobile devices to access the intranet network in Pyongyang.
[45] During the COVID-19 pandemic the Rakwon video conferencing system, developed at Kim Il-sung University, became popular for remote meetings, and appeared regularly on news bulletins.
Before the fiber connection, international Internet access was limited to government-approved dial-up over land lines to China.
The connection was established through an Intelsat satellite link from North Korea to servers located in Germany.
[47] In 2007 North Korea successfully applied at ICANN for the .kp country code top-level domain (ccTLD).
Foreign visitors can link their computers to the Internet through international phone lines available in a few hotels in Pyongyang.
[58][59] As of 2011, USB flash drives were selling well in North Korea, primarily used for watching South Korean dramas and films on personal computers.
