10 ways North Koreans use technology differently from other countries

Life in North Korea is still pretty opaque.Current ruler Kim Jong-un was, unlike, his forefathers, educated in Europe.His comparatively liberal education hasn't rubbed off as much as you might expect, with the country maintaining a remarkable secrecydespite chronic economic issues and ongoing food shortages.But he has caved to one pressure of modern lifethe internet.Up-to-date statistics are hard to come by, but the country is increasingly getting online.Here's how the country's citizens use technology:Almost no one uses the internetThe internet as we know it does exist in North Korea, but access is severely limited and only permitted to foreigners and the elite.Most people access North Korea's internal internet, called Kwangmyong, which is completely walled off from the outside world. Sites are mostly for North Korea's institutions, but the intranet is opening up for commerce too. The country's first online shopping site, called Okryu, launched in 2015.North Korea banned Facebook but built a cloneWhile North Korea has banned Facebook access on the open internet, the regime seems to like the concept. The country built a clone which was discovered by Dyn Networks researcher Doug Madory last yearand then promptly hacked.The clone was fully functional, allowing users to sign up via email and post messages on each other's walls. It isn't clear whether the clone went on to attract more users in North Koreaafter the hack.One in 10 North Koreans has a smartphoneLike other developing countries, North Koreans have bypassed landlines, PCs, and broadband to embrace the mobile phone. According to the main carrierKoryolink, there are around 3 million mobile subscribers. PC ownership, on the other hand, is pegged at the hundreds of thousands, according to estimates from Andrei Lankov, author of "The Real North Korea".See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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