10 Unusual Technological Habits Of North Koreans!
Life inside North Korea is mostly unveiled due to their governmental policy. The country still maintains to live behind the curtains due to governmental policies of Kim Jong-un. Although most of the internet access is restricted, there are situations where citizen can reach out to the online world.
Here's the brief introduction to North Korea's technological habits:
1. The internet exists in North Korea, but almost no one uses it.
Since internet access is restricted in North Korea, only foreigners and the elite can use it.
Most of the public has access to North Korea's internal internet called Kwangmyong. Kwangmyong is a closed system which excludes web sites from all other countries. North Korea's first e-commerce web site, Okryu, was launched in 2015.
2. It's forbidden to use Facebook in North Korea, but they have their own Facebook Clone.
Although using Facebook is strictly forbidden in North Korea, the regime liked the concept and created their own version.
3. One out of 10 North Koreans own a smartphone.
Similar to other developing countries, North Koreans have embraced mobile phones. Koryolink, the main carrier of North Korea, claims that 3 million mobile users are subscribed to their service.
4. However, it is forbidden to make international calls.
Koryolink doesn't allow its user to make international calls. People are buying imported phones and Sim cards from the Chinese border in order to communicate with their relatives who fled the country.
5. Desktop PCs are only used by rich people.
Using a PC is a privilege in North Korea. If you are lucky enough to study at Pyongyang University, you may have access to computers. There are internet cafes in North Korea for public use. These computers are constantly under surveillance.
6. PC access is excessively restricted. For this reason, USB sticks have turned into fashion accessories.
According to author of 'The Real North Korea,' Andrei Lankov, PC usage in North Korea is so rare that USB sticks are worn as fashion accessories by young people.
7. Most of the computers in North Korea run on a Linux-based system.
North Korea has its own operating system called Red Star. Red Star includes a word processing application, calendar and music composition service.
Since North Koreans use USB sticks to swap films, news and other media illegally, the operating system watermarks files. This way, the files are easily traced when transferred.
The interface of those computers almost looks like OS X!
Other than its built-in paranoia, of course!
8. Cheap Chinese tablets can only be purchased by rich people.
The Woolim tablet was released some time around last year. The tablet costs around €250 despite being manufactured in China. According to security researchers, this price is unaffordable to most North Koreans.
9. Some people have TVs in their houses, but their broadcast options are limited.
You can watch TV in North Korea, however the TV channels are mostly used to distribute governmental propaganda.
10. People have to choose between two mobile phone carriers.
If you are a citizen in North Korea, you only have two mobile carrier options: Koryolink and Byol. There is a possiblity that Byol might merge with Koryolink in the future.
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