April 18, 2024
Analysis

North Korea’s “schizophrenic” computer and phone revolution

North Korea encourages IT and cellphone use but deliberately limits network capacities

Last weekend North Korean media treated us with a remarkable picture: the Supreme Leader Marshal Kim Jong Un with a new domestically produced smartphone in his hands. Kim was shown playing with the newly made ‘Arirang’ smartphone, which was allegedly produced locally, at a factory the Marshal himself was visiting to inspect.

A few months earlier North Korean media had written about the ‘Samjiyon’ tablet PC – also said to be produced locally –which comes pre-loaded with a large amount of ideologically correct and useful content, such as the full works of the Supreme Leader’s father and grandfather Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung.

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