North Korean Smartphones Expose $750 Elite Digital Life as Kim Tightens Control
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Jul 26
North Korean Smartphones Expose $750 Elite Digital Life as Kim Tightens Control
1 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Jul 26
Summary
Two North Korean smartphones examined by The Washington Post show a growing app-based life confined to a state intranet, not the global internet, giving a rare view of how digital convenience doubles as surveillance.
$750 handsets remain largely an elite luxury in Pyongyang, yet users can already make QR-code payments, bank online, book taxis, order food, buy medicine and stream state-approved video through domestic apps.
Those services help the government monitor cash flows, grain distribution and pharmaceutical purchases more closely, while offering approved entertainment as authorities keep cracking down on smuggled South Korean media.
More than 6.35 million phone subscriptions, a 4G network and at least 24 domestic brands point to a rapidly digitizing capital that Kim Jong Un appears to be using to reward loyal elites without loosening information control.