Communications in North Korea

Telephones - main lines in use: 1.1 million (2001)

Telephones - mobile cellular:

In November 2002, cell phones were introduced to North Korea and by November 2003, 20000 North Koreans had bought cell phones. On May 24. 2004 cell phones were banned. North Korea supposedly still has a mobile network in Pyongyang which is open for government officials and maybe foreigners, but not locals.

Telephone system:
international: satellite earth stations - 1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) and 1 Russian (Indian Ocean Region); other international connections through Moscow and Beijing

Radio broadcast stations: AM 16, FM 14, shortwave 12 (1999)

Radios: 3.36 million (1997)

Visitors are not allowed to bring a radio. As part of the government's information blockade policy, North Korean radios and televisions must be modified to only receive government stations. These modified radios and televisions are also subject to inspection at random.

Television broadcast stations: 38 (1999)

Televisions: 1.2 million (1997)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs): NA. North Korea has been testing its first Web portal http://www.kcckp.net/external_e/ (see also [1]).

In 2002 the first Internet cafe has opened ([2], [3], [4]). It is connected via a line to China. Also, foreign visitors can link their computers to the Internet through international phone lines available in a few hotels in Pyongyang.

Country code: KP

Milieu control: In order to protect the government's monopoly on information, North Korea practices an Orwellian form of cult-like mind control or milieu control which requires extremely tight controls on any form of outside information. International travel (such as defection - leaving the DPRK for a foreign country without government permission, which is considered a form of treason under Section 47 of the DPRK;s Criminal Code), reading prohibited foreign publications, or listening to foreign radio broadcasts are considered serious crimes in the DPRK, which is considered by many to be the most tightly-controlled and culturally isolated country on Earth. Visits by foreigners to the DPRK are tightly controlled, and the few DPRK citizens who have spent any time abroad are watched closely by the government. (Even the mildest possible expression of dissent or even a person's lack of sufficient amount of enthusiam for the government is punished very severely.)

See also

• List of Korea-related topics