It's been nary a year since the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (aka "the North") got
its very own 3G network, and now the
Daily NK is reporting that -- no surprise -- cellphone use has taken the capital by storm. "Demand for mobile phones has been increasing" said one source. "Almost 30 percent of Pyongyang citizens seem to be using them." Still, this is the same country that refers to
Kim Jong-Il as "Dear Leader," so while things are certainly looking up for Pyongyangites, there are any number of restrictions. For instance, not just anybody with disposable income can pick up one of these things -- the devices are still off-limits to cadres in the Central Committee of the Party and foreigners. In addition, using two phones simultaneously is illegal, as well as using a phone in someone else's name. And you thought the T-Mobile store was a pain in the ass? When an individual or a group of workers buy a phone, they must get a stamp from their home village, and then submit an application to the Communications Center -- all this for the privilege of having the government listen to their phone calls. There is no word on what phone / phones are available, but we do know that one will cost you between $90 and $120. Charges are reportedly ₩3,000 (around $20) a month for eight hours of talk time, with an additional €15 (also around $20) surcharge if you go over. Service is currently only available in Pyongyang and Sariwon, but apparently the service in Sariwon "kinda sucks." So really, service is only available in Pyongyang. And you know what? If you're reading this, you're probably not in Pyongyang.
posted Aug 18th 2009 3:36PM
the razr come back special
Why use cellphone when you can do oral communication, Bill Clinton Style.
I'm sorry, but, the only proper response to that is, if your female ghx, call me.
LOL
This pic just yells for a funny caption
GO
"You wrong!! Metal back good for reception!!!"
"North Korea iPhone bigga dan real iPhone. Long live Chairman Kim!"
"YOU CAN HAS iFONE!!"
"Ris, ris is our new great reader!
Should changed the color hue of the iPhone holding hand to match the rest of his skin.
Oh, Herro Hans Brix -- thank you for carring me on my new phone. I'm so ronery....
There are going to be some highly offended North Koreans reading this! Uhhh... nevermind...
I was born in 1984...
"You see iPhone? I see YOU!"
"You thought China's version of the iPhone was bad, wait til you check this one out."
CAPTURE THE PROTOTYPE FACILITY
YEUUUUU HAVE ACHIEVED A VICTORY FORANORTHAKOREAAAAAAA
I think i saw a nanosuit. Carring for backup... ahhhrrrrrgghh.....
Dear Leader Comrade Generalissimo Kim Jong Il leader of invincible Juche Korea has kindly allowed the Korean people cell phones so that they can further their world progressiveness and superior socialist lifestyle.
"You are ugry! I have iPhone! I am cooler than you westerners!"
I WANT YOU TO SAVE AT&T.
"Our cell phone contracts are One Life Commitment, MINIMUM!!!!"
OR
"Welcome to North Korea! Here is your Razr!"
Join the Dear Leader's army and hold his iPhone for a full minute!!
Amusing that everybody assumes their technology is so bad, it probably is better and has more functionality because they aren't crippled on every move by a million patents.
Many chinese low-end products are lousy because they don't care much, but the koreans have nothing to do but care, or else, so don't go assuming too much.
I bet the phone will be used most to ask others if they have anything left to eat though.
and to text while driving if it's girls I guess
Sweet. Welcome to 1992!
or 1984...
So I guess online coverage maps are out of the question, huh.
that dude wish he had an iphone
He probably wants a decent meal more...
So it is possible to provide worse service than AT&T?
Yeah, but you have to be in a totalitarian dictatorship.
Actually, is it that different from AT&T at all?
Haha, it's funny because AT&T are strict and so are the leaders of North Korea.
yes, thankyou. that was the joke
LOL a Family Guy reference!!!
Funny caption:
You can have this back when you've done all your chores young man.
Hur hurr.
Also nth comment
WE ARE FLAMING DWAGON!
Wrong country, but it just seems to fit so well with the picture. :(
Thanks for the chocolate rations big brother!
Cool the city inabited by the party members get the goodies and the rest die from starvation. Good.
Hey, hey, hey! It's communism. Everyone is "equal" ;^/...
@Frankenstein Black: Since when is North Korea anything close to communism? It's a pure totalitarian dictatorship. Nobody works for the common good, everyone just works to further Kim Jong Il. It's about as much of a communism as Iraq was under Saddam. I'm not even positive they even use the term communism for themselves(I should probably know that... took a whole course on NK, but just can't remember what they refer to themselves as, since it doesn't really matter anyway).
well the chinese refer to themselves as communists and they are the most furiously capitalist country on the planet, 13 hour workdays and no workers rights
i think north korea calls itself a "democratic republic" which is as close to the truth as the chinese being communists
North Korea and China are communist countries, despite which rethoric is used, sorry.
but some are more equal than others....
They're not communist, they're fascist. If they do have aspects of communism then this isn't relevant to their totalitarianism.
@Verythrax: OK, that's actually pretty much the exact opposite of the truth. The Chinese claim to be communist but are actually pretty much a complete capitalism. I can't even remember what the North Koreans claim to be at this point but in reality they have next to no economy, it's pretty much just work to make Kim Jong Il more powerful. Perhaps you're mistaking communism with totalitarianism? Communism is an economic structure which has yet to have any large scale implementation(regardless of what certain countries claim).
* China isn't, North Korea is.
Juche is the philosophy that the North Koreans follow. It's like a warped, not-really-like-it-at-all form of communism.
Mark:
and it is about as functional as communism will ever get.
The end result is the same.
...and having looked it up North Korea has a Socialist command economy(per wikipedia... not perfect but good enough for this). So neither one is communist. China is a capitalism that claims to be communist, North Korea is a socialism.
Considering that communism needs that the propriety of the means of production, yes they both are communists. The fact that they can buy things now, and they live or not in a totalitarian state is unimportant - but it's an AMAZING coincidence that all communist countries in history are or where dictatorships.
@Verythrax: Not really sure what you mean by that, since it looks like you had a few typos. Regardless, almost everything in China(including businesses and the means of production) is privately owned and what remains is property of the state(note: in this case that does NOT make it the property of the people at large). Everything(again, including the means of production) in North Korea is property of the central party. Nothing is the property of the people at large. Communism dictates that the means of production must be owned equally by all the people living in the Communist state. You appear mistaking socialism for communism, since it's Socialism where the central government owns all the property. In fact, Communism is pretty much impossible without a pure democracy, without any central government, since it requires that the full means of production be under the ownership of the people at large.