The "Hermit Kingdom" has slowly embraced cell phones and cyberspace - on its own terms. Those expecting that technology will lead to a "Pyongyang Spring" will be disappointed.
During the floods and famine of the 1990s, the North Korea regime was able to withstand the death of at least 5% of its population by forcing its poorest and least trusted citizens to bear the brunt of environmental disaster. Today, with one million cell phones in North Korea and a government sponsored intranet, the regime believes it can survive the advent of information technology by restricting its use to the most elite 5% of the population who have the largest stake in the survival of the regime as it currently exists.
North Korea intentionally restricts access to information to control its population. TV and radios in North Korea are hardwired to only receive government controlled media. Foreign newspapers and periodicals are forbidden. North Koreans are not free to travel within the country without government permission. Foreigners who visit North Korea are carefully controlled by their (two) minders who keep them from interacting with the North Korean populace. In short, North Korea has traditionally viewed controlling the flow of information to its population as a fundamental necessity to ensure the survival of the state.
It is surprising then to see that the North Korea state has sanctioned the use of cell phones and other information technology. There are now more than 1 million third-generation cell phones in North Korea, as part of the Koryolink cell phone system. These phones can call other members of the Koryolink network, but cannot make calls outside of the country. There is also a state sponsored intranet in North Korea, called Kwangmyong. The intranet is restricted to elites in North Korea with good social standing. The intranet features message boards, chat functions, and state sponsored media; its use has also been encouraged among university students, technical experts and scientists, and others to exchange information.
A few North Koreans have access to the unfiltered Internet. Andrei Lankov, a leading North Korean expert at Kookmin University in Seoul, estimated this number to be “a few dozen families” including Kim Jong-Un’s clan. Other select North Koreans may have restricted and/or monitored access to the Internet to gather data on the U.S. and South Korea, find content to populate the intranet, and maintain the North Korean government’s propaganda web sites.
So why has the North Korea government, which has traditionally viewed control of information as part of its strategy for regime survival, allowed cell phones and the intranet within the country? North Korea hopes that access to some information technology tools will increase foreign investment in the country, and help build a more efficient economic system. Cell phones and the intranet will allow the state to control production and establish standards between Pyongyang and remote areas of the country. North Korea also hopes that the limited use of cell phones will encourage investment from overseas, in particular China. The lack of cell phones has been noted as one of the biggest challenges for investors dealing with North Korea.
Socially, the North Korean state believes that it can allow access to these technologies while controlling the social instability that they might invite. Defectors who worked in the IT sector in North Korea have called this the “mosquito net” strategy, meaning it will allow foreign investment in the North while blocking potentially harmful news and culture from the outside world. In short, the North Korea state believes that it can reap the benefits of an information technology network, while controlling it to prevent censured foreign culture from influencing the North Korean population.
It also bears noting that, while cell phones and the domestic intranet could be used to undermine the state, they can also be used to support the state control apparatus. Koryolink users, for example, receive daily texts of North Korean propaganda on their phones. Intranet activity, particularly activity on discussion boards, is closely monitored by the North Korean state security department. Finally, the network can be shut down by the state, if necessary. As Alexandre Mansourov notes, the venture has been blessed by the highest levels of the state security mechanism, which would not happen unless the security apparatus of the regime believes it could control the impact of IT use.
Those expecting that cell phones will lead to a Pyongyang Spring will be disappointed. The songbun caste system in North Korea ensures that those with access to cell phones in North Korea are the most elite 5% of the population. North Koreans of low rank, or those living in the country side, will never see, let alone own, a Koryolink cell phone. They will similarly never access the intranet.
In the 1990s the floods and famine killed somewhere between 5 and 10% of the population of North Korea. The government was able to control this massive humanitarian disaster by triaging supplies of food and fuel to the elite of the country. Those that suffered and died were those with low rank in the state, whom the populace had already been told to view with suspicion. The state thus remained relatively stable, despite enduring a horrific environmental and humanitarian disaster. Today, the North Korean regime is controlling access to cell phones and the intranet in the same way, treating them as a luxury available only to the richest, and thereby– the regime hopes– the most loyal members of the state.
Although the state believes that it can control the advent of IT in North Korea, this does represent a fundamental shift in the role of the state. North Korea has given up on a system of total information control. In the past, the State Security Department was able to monitor all communications within the state. With at least a million cell phones in the country, the state will now have to choose which calls to monitor, probably focusing on foreigners and senior government and military officials. Furthermore, the ability to call remote areas of the country allows information to be disseminated in a way that was previously unthinkable. Finally, the North Korean state has blessed the use of information technology in order to acquire scientific information from abroad to support development in North Korea. The ability to access foreign development data, even if it has been screened by the state, allows those with access to the intranet to become active information consumers.
So, while cell phones are not an immediate threat to the stability of the North Korean state, they represent a very new development. Combined with the rise of markets in the North, and a younger generation moving into the ranks of government, mobile phones and an increasingly information savvy population have the potential to fundamentally alter the state and, if North Korea can be persuaded to reform its economy, create a strong incentive to integrate the North into the dynamic economies of Northeast Asia.
Scott Thomas Bruce is the Project Manager on nuclear nonproliferation issues at CRDF Global and an Associate at the Nautilus Institute and the East-West Center. He is the author, most recently, of A Double-Edged Sword: Cell-Phones and Information Technology in North Korea (East-West Center, 2012), from which this article is adapted.
Photo Credit: comradeanatolii (Flickr)
Reddit
Digg
StumbleUpon
Delicious
Technorati
Yahoo
Google
Plurk
Me me me
Seems like the people are being given just enough rope to hang themselves. Those forms of communication will no doubt be heavily monitored (pretty much is done so in the west). Makes purging the 'elite' that much easier.
Roger
Very well researched article showing that is possible to get some understanding of North Korea. Shines a light on North Korea and a bit of the plight of the folks there as well as some possible venues for GASP talking to them.
Much more helpful than relying on the old "Them Norks is crazy". But here they are lean and mean. So we may as well figure out how to deal with the porcupine….
Errol
Lean and mean and a lot are underfed. Saw a few AsiaPress articles that showed even NoKor grunts were starving. I know the enlisted personnel always take the brunt of anything, but that was on a whole new level.
bollard
Staring at a computer screen in N-Korea must be like watching a test pattern on TV,all you is the great leader.
Schminner
I'm curious, do the North Koreans eat kimchis?
Errol
Does a bear *bleep* in the woods?
North Koreans do eat kimchi. Not as good as those in South Korea, I'm told. Perpetual shortage of foodstuff does that, I think.
PeterDownUnder
But what this article fails to touch on is the access and penetration of South Korean radio and TV broadcasts.
All North Korean defectors have stated that they were lured by South Korea radio broad casts as well as soap operas. Also there is a large black market in pirated South Korean videos on USBs from China.
Roger
Good point. However, since ROK recently ended their analog broadcasts only a small portion of North Koreans (those with digital TVs) can now receive the broadcasts. shame. So far as I can tell, ROK didn't evn ask or trade anything for giving up the broadcasts.
Wim
I was puzzled why the article at some moments claims that only 5% of the population has access to those modern media and at other times that there are more than 1 million mobiles.
N. Korea has about 24 million inhabitants. From that point of view 1 million would be 5%. But when you look at families the real reach of those technologies is definitely larger.
Aaron
Thank you for publishing this article. More people need to be aware of what life is like inside North Korea.
Gandalf
Fentruck
The state has no right to exist. This isn't a purely western idea…. the state exists at the whim and graciousness of the People. When the State no longer represents the People (as it is in North Korea), it ceases to have a right to exist. That's what separates the Western democracies from monarchies and other antiquated nonsense that wore out their welcome when the world was proven to be round.
What people should be wondering is how anyone with half a brain can argue that MORE government works? We see an out-of-control State in North Korea, benefiting the 5% 'elite', and yet Western Democracies surrender rights to the state and "free stuff" that the People will never get back, short of revolution.
ImperiumVita
Can anyone who reads this article, in comparing the situation you find described here with the situation in South Korea, honestly, and objectively, argue that North Korea has any right, or reason to exist?
Anon
While I'm no supporter of North Korea, I'm wondering how you, honestly and objectively, can argue that anyone or anything doesn't have a right or reason to exist.
ImperiumVita
I don't have to.
Lauren Platt
You're not God, or Hitler. It's not your place to judge whether an entire nation has the right to exist.
I'll put money on you being American, though.
derp
Well of course he's not god. God doesn't exist.
leave
hurrr look at me, i r atheist on the internet.
ImperiumVita
You're right, I am American. What does that win you? I don't understand the reference to Hitler, it's logically incoherent.
So. Will you argue that North Korea, the regime specifically, has a right to exist? Is it serving its people well? Just curious about your point of view, I'm an American and ignorant of the world.
Brett
Whether Kim Jong Un's government in North Korea has "a right" to exist or not, they do. There's only so much that can be done about that.
They're a sovereign nation. Until they pose a "clear and present threat" to anyone outside their borders, the pace they choose to reform at is their own business.
Lg
I totally agree with you. They do exist and nothing we can do about it.
Ser Gregor Clegane
I will put my money on you being a left leaning apologist for 'communist' regimes. God is an imaginary construct used by people to explain things whilst ignorant and to make themselves feel 'special' and loved. He is not real. Hitler judged whether a ethnic group should live or not, not a particular government so both are invalid. ImperiumVita can perfectly judge using morals based on reason and science. You probably think that the Taliban's 'culture' should be respected as well.
PeterDownUnder
Well constitutionally both Korea's cancel eachother out as both claim to be the lawful and sole rightful regime of the entire peninsular.
Its just that post liberation, the Soviet side did not allow democratic voting and thus led to the current split.
kP
Woo Hoo! Godwin's Law!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law
lspooner
As much right and reason as you have to exist.
Stephen
What, are you gonna personally go over there and remove the regime?
Better yet, do you know what removing the regime is going to entail?
A diatrabe about the evils of a country and how it should be removed is nice and all, but it's not pertinent at the moment. North Korea ain't going much of anywhere any time soon, and fixing that mess is going to be more of a headache than leaving a mangy beast be. It's that simple.