North Korean imports of tablet computers increased throughout 2014, from zero last December to more than 4000 units per month in October, according to Chinese customs data.

The figures also confirm that laptop use among North Koreans has increased five-fold since 2009, though appearing to taper off in 2014, with October imports only slightly ahead of those seen over the same period last year.

“This looks in line with what I’d expect. Tablets and laptops have slowly been growing in popularity, it seems,” Martyn Williams, author of the North Korea Tech site told NK News.

Tablet imports – which