North Korea to allow limited access to "the internet" on cellphones
Looks like North Korea -- a place not known for its liberal attitudes toward communication of information -- may slowly be taking another baby step toward the 21st century. The country, which only began allowing limited access to cell phones last December, has announced that now, limited access to the internet will be available on mobiles as well. Apparently about 20,000 of North Korea's estimated 23 million citizens now have cell phones, and though there is scant detail about what the internet access will constitute, an estimated 400 million dollars was spent to construct the 3G network in the country. So while there's no real bright side to the story, at least those lucky few who can look at Kim Jong Il's official website will have a decent connection.























Par for the course for N Korea. Do a google maps satallite flyover of N Korea, and see the beautiful road system they have in place.. For just about no cars! Then pan down to S. Korea to see the drastic difference.
Hella epic.
this is a slippery slope, once the North Koreans get access to pr0n kim jong il will lose any control he has over them.
They have cellphones in N. Korea?
Replace "The Internet" with "An Internet"... a version of the internet.
Their version
So Bush was right when he said "internets"!
Ten movies streaming across that, that Internet, and what happens to your own personal Internet? I just the other day got...an Internet was sent by my staff ...
I guarantee those 20,000 people are all loyal party members.
Hans Brix must've showed Jong Il his new Palm Pre...
i thought he was dead?
The question is, who the f*ck can affort a cellphone with internet acces in f*ckin North Korea? I mean, dude, there are electricity shortages, people have to choose between a washing-machine or a tv in order to NOT drain more power than "prescribed"!
It's worse than that, they don't even get enough to eat, due to massive economic mismanagement.
Terrible times... Yet people in our country still tend to vote for the left, even worse, some even vote for the communists party! I really, REALLY, don't get it!
This is a laugh at the citizens of North Korea, allowing limited mobiles and limited internet where most of the country suffers from hunger... They should have put the $400mil. to feed their people, if they're so "democratic" and the country "belongs" to the people, why didn't they do that? Fu*k cell phones! Who needs them? So that one could call for a pizza delivery?! Hardly so...
loocas, thats because people are stupid!
North korea is a dictatorship, it has nothing to do with communism as defined in various writings, that's just his 'ruse'
And is their government really that much worse than ours? It just sticks out more how outrageous it is since we aren't used to it.
They all suck, governments, all corrupt and(/or) selfserving and all lying their asses off at all times.
@Wwhat: You're right about it being a dictatorship, and it being odd to us; ignorance is bliss right? But you're completely insane if you can't tell the difference between a government that literally kills officials for making wrong decisions versus our government where they'll only lose their job and reputation (if they deserve it) when they make bad decisions.
Also I'm pretty sure as bad as our government is, there is still TONS of opportunity for people who work hard. Oh and most importantly...if you want to leave your country, no one stops you. :P
Cheney did kill people, so does the pentagon and CIA still, as do many western governments, look at that weapons inspector who annoyed tony blair then 'decided' to go to a remote location and 'stab himself to death', shuffling stuff under the carpet is not the same as things not happening.
And yeah there's tons of stuff that they use to try to make it hard for people to leave, like for instance making sure every freaking country becomes part of the same damn gang.
Also, I would not worry about our 'leaders' losing any jobs or reputation for doing a bad jobs, I think that happening is shown to be extremely unlikely..
@anon
Don't know about you, but imo, if a cops shoots down a 16 year old boy in the back while said teenager is fleeing. That officer deserves the death penalty, matter of fact, any one with more power than a normal citizen should not be allowed to make mistake. Specially the ones who claims to have rights to lock you up, falsely accused you or is parading with a gun that can easily take life.
Wow thanks for the link, the official North Korea portal. Just going on that page, I feel my security is in jeopardy.
STFU all China haters, its not 70s, chinese ppl didn't do anything bad to u, so stop being racists
It'll probably allow only browsing communism data base and showing brainwashing advertisements. :P
More like brainwashing infomercials ;)
So, they have spent $20,000 PER cell user on building out a 3G network?
There's one leader there, he controls all the money, he somewhat claims communism is his basis (in the sense that the people are slaves and he's stalin, not in any other sense)
So don't compare it to spending in a capitalistic(-like) system.
welcome to the 21st century North Korea your dictator is finally adopting modern technology
i call shenanigans. That is in no way the official website. First off its all in English, it loaded way to fast for being a website all the way over in Korea, it looks to modern, and just the way the url is proves its not official. And it has a forum.
400 million dollars on 3G towers? You got to be joking me! First put all that money in to food and shelter for the starving, helpless,uneducated, sick*, people in your country then talk to me! Kim Jong II should be ashamed of what he's doing right now. If I am wrong, correct me.
*Sick as if in unhealthy, physically not capable of doing things.
Will they be using the internet as we know it, or Gore, Al's "internet lite"?
@aaa6399
How did this guy get ranked down? He's telling the truth, and I live in America.
Check out the forum, it's full of fanatical communists from all over the world. i bet any "imperialist" post you make on it gets deleted faster than you can blink
When will you people learn to stop associating the word "American" with "pig", "lazy", "fat" and "stupid"?
It's not FULL of pigs. To say so is ignorant at best.
Hmmmm... internet on a cell phone?
Sounds like Apple is in talks in Korea!
rebranded as the Kim Jong iPhone
When will you "people" stop referring to US as Americans, their a lot of countries in America so please refer to them as united statetians or something. When we Canadians travel we are still considered Americans. Why? The same reason when you say some one is from Africa and not Congo or Tunisia.
Maybe because the full name of the country is the United States of AMERICA. And might I add, there are a lot of "United States" out there as well. For example, the full name of Mexico is "Estados Unidos de Mexico" which translates to, get ready, the "United States of Mexico."
Fucking get over it.
this separation is all caused by u americans, know what ur talking about before ya speak
where the glasses from? lens crafters?
Airport taxfree shop, ladies department..
OMG, they're getting cell phones with internet? That's like 9/11........times 100!!!
MATT DAMON!!!!
What the hell?
Only 20k cell phone users? That is a sad testament. Even the poorest I know have cell phones.
Engadget really likes the people from Southpark
I'll bet King Jong Il can get SlingPlayer to work on HIS iPhone!
Oops, I meant "Kim". Freudian slip there.
@genepro @stop @kuade
Engadget = Liberal FUCKS that remove truthful comments. Is there a similar tech site like engadget where the creators aren't actually involved in a 3-way with Barry Husain Obama and Steve Jobs?
What you yanks need is something like they have here in Australia where the companies can just install their towers and no-one is allowed to complain. Don't even need development approvals last I checked.