Are da’ Norks getting with the program as far as the ‘Net is concerned? Perhaps, according to Wired.
North Korea, communist in ideology and isolated by choice, has launched an international e-mail service that “guarantees the privacy of correspondence,” according to a government news report.
The brief dispatch from the official Korean Central News Agency provided few details about the service, including how to subscribe. It is run by Pyongyang’s International Communications Center, according to its official Korean Central News Agency.
North Korea keeps a tight lid on its 22 million people to shield them from outside influence. Few ordinary North Koreans are believed to have computer and e-mail access. TV sets and radios come with fixed channels so that people can only watch or listen to government-controlled media.
But in recent years, North Korea has begun opening its electronic borders. In 2001, a Chinese website opened the first commercial e-mail link to the communist country.
Leader Kim Jong Il is known as an Internet surfer. When then-U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited Pyongyang in 2000, Kim asked for her e-mail address.
Kim has often emphasized the importance of computer technology. Foreign visitors can link their computers to the Internet through international phone lines available in a few hotels in Pyongyang. An Internet cafe has also opened in the North Korean capital, recent visitors say.
Mainland PRC bloggers have to deal with the Great Firewall of China… what would internet users in North Korea have to deal with? The Cyber-DMZ?
(Hat tip to Brainysmurf)
5 Comments
Can I get Kim Jong Ils email address?
Heh, I bet pr0n is the only area where access would be unrestricted - it’s Kim Jong Il we’re talking about, after all. My own take is that this is more typical Communist bombast, perhaps mixed in with bad translation.
Regards,
Tony
You can’t even download porn in Singapore (and get away with it).
I’ll be KJI is also a fan of a certain Japanese model….
In a twisted way I feel sorry feel KJII. Well, he’s the head guy in NK. He can do anything he wants… provided it’s in NK. And what is there in NK? The cheerleaders, ok I’ll give you that. But after the first 2,000, cheerleaders can get boring. He really can’t watch a nice foreign flick with them. He could watch one alone sure, but not with the masses. He can’t have them over for a nice French Nouvelle dinner. Think about it. There he is banging away big time and the vibrations knock his family pictures askew on the table. It happens all the time, believe me. She freaks out that the glorious leader’s picture is askew. Seriously, he’s ready for the money shot, and she’s seriously freaking out that his hair is mussed. He can’t even call it the money shot! What is the appropriate party term for money shot anyway?
The guy must be bored out of his mind, desperate for a simple conversation. Let’s say KJII gets stoned during dinner and says “Paltrow, she’s friggin hot!” Nobody is going to know what the hell he is talking about. He can’t ask if anybody if they saw the Simpsons last night. All Kim wants to do is laugh about Hommer touching the Brazilian guy’s but in the conga line and the NK are all paranoid about being smoked out. The guy can’t even go to Disneyland. What can a guy do in that situation? I don’t know, maybe… post at Gweilo Diaries?
People are always looking for data havens - where they can do their communications or put their data without fear of police intervention.
Folks like mobsters, terrorists and crooks (and, of course, spammers).
Looks like this is just up little Kim’s alley!
Perhaps North Korea will become the Democratic People’s Republic of Spam!