North Koreans deprived of technology

MUMBAI, INDIA: North Korea and its military regime turned to be a hot topic of discussion on the Internet last week. There were many controversial and unconfirmed media reports saying that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) had joined the world of social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

However, many experts and observers had raised eyebrows against those reports keeping in view North Korea’s past and questioned — “whether the country is allowing technology access to its people or is controlling technology the way it controls its people.”

Those reports triggered a big debate among people ranging from top U.S. Officials, the citizens of South Korea, China and others across the world as everybody out of curiosity tried to search, learn and know — “what the secretive nation was doing on the Internet.”

Philip J Crowley, U.S. assistant secretary of State for Public Affairs had welcomed North Korea to the social media network, labeling the country — the ‘hermit kingdom’ that finally may have emerged from its shell. “The hermit kingdom will not change overnight but technology once introduced can’t be shut down,” Crowley tweeted.

“Our nation is on the twitter website”- a user under the name ‘Uriminzok’ from the capital Pyongyang had tweeted early this month. The user account however is linked to the state-run Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea and not to any local from North Korea.

Also, several videos on YouTube were posted to exhibit the country’s development such as a North Korean school kids learn how to use a computer, Koryolink: North Korea’s new 3G cellular network and others. The authenticity and credibility of these videos still remained a key question.

In the wake of those news reports, Facebook, the biggest social networking site reportedly deleted two user accounts which alleged to be from North Korea. According to Facebook’s spokeswoman Kumiko Hidaka, if a person poses as a person or entity that you don’t officially represent, that becomes a violation of Facebook’s policy.

“Facebook is based on real people that are making connections. People are going to get the most value out of the site if they are using real identities,” a report quoted her saying.

The social site’s move has further supported the reclusive nature of the secretive Stalinist state ruled by Kim Jong-il. In fact, Forbes reported quoting a North Korean government official that the DPRK is not using Twitter, Facebook and YouTube — as reported by thousands of publications worldwide.

“The accounts are run by the government supporters, not government officials, living in Japan and China, not North Korea. And those social media sites are still banned in North Korea,” the official had said.

According to observers and experts, those YouTube videos showcasing North Korea’s development isn’t country’s real picture but its propaganda.

The official’s statement strongly supported the global view on how the DPRK controls its people as well as use of technology. According to Internet World Stats and International Telecom Union (ITU), the DPRK with 24 million populations hasn’t disclosed any figures about Internet users and its usage. With non-availability of Internet and no users in the country, those reports claiming North Korea joined social media is falsified.

It’s a fact that the hermit kingdom hasn’t allowed its people with easy access to technology such as the Internet and kept them away from technological advancement and its social benefits.

Interestingly, the authorities there provide a very limited access to technology that too as per their will. According to BBC’s senior correspondent Sue Lloyd, the North Korean students at the Pyongyang University get access to a special internal Intranet instead of Internet. Sue is among the very few journalists that has visited North Korea in recent times.

“As we arrived at Pyongyang’s airport our mobile phones were confiscated and throughout our stay in DPRK there was no access to the Internet,” Sue wrote in her report — ‘Life inside the North Korean bubble.’ Her personal account with DPRK clearly exposed the country’s doubtful and unfriendly approach towards technology such as the Internet and mobile phones.

The Internet and mobile phones have become a very common means of communications world over in today’s digital age except North Korea, which still continues to control technology and ban people from using it.

Globally experts believed that Kim Jong-il regime’s motive behind such technology-unfriendly attitude is to suppress people from social freedom, isolate them from exterior world and curb any attempts of social change that could gain momentum and support using technology.

Ironically, the nation with strong nuclear capabilities is disallowing its people from accessing the Internet and mobiles phones - pushing their lives back to the 18th century.