A North Korean online trading portal that allows businesses to offer products and services now provides an escrow payment option to facilitate transactions, an article featured in the Pyongyang Times showed on Friday.

The Jagangryok site, only accessible on the DPRK’s internal intranet, was launched last October and is one of several internal portals designed to facilitate online shopping and business services.

But it appears to be the first North Korean portal specifically designed to offer escrow payment protection, which helps protect both the buyer and seller during a transaction.

“All the trade dealings on the Jagangryokwebsite presupposes financial