New agent of change in N. Korea: cellphones

In a country where nearly every facet of society is controlled, North Korean authorities are encountering a new foe: the cellphone. A fascinating article from the The Christian Science Monitor via Telecoms Korea.

"Mobile phones, which are ubiquitous in China and South Korea, are now infiltrating North Korea and are allowing information into - and out of - the "hermit kingdom."

Douglas Shin, a Korean-American minister who has been campaigning for human rights in North Korea, sees the emerging cellphone "revolution" as paralleling, if not abetting, budding dissent against the government.

"At first cellphones worked on a narrow band of land along the Chinese border," says Mr. Shin. "Now they can penetrate a great distance.

Often, he says, cellphone users must climb a hill or mountain to use them, but still he says it's possible to convey messages that previously would never have penetrated the barriers of a state that bars normal international mail and ordinary telephone calls for all but a privileged few.

Many observers say the fact that anyone can hold such long-distance conversations in North Korea could spell trouble for the country's leader, Kim Jong Il.

Shin predicts the US government may even use the spread of cellphones to help bring about regime transformation, if not change in North Korea. He predicts that the US in the next two or three years will begin sending cellphones into North Korea, just as it now plans to penetrate the North by smuggling in small radios capable of receiving Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, both official US stations.

Related articles:

-- North Korean authorities and cellphones - There are indications that news is leaking out of North Korea by cellphone and that criticisms of the government are being posted in public places. (Nov 04)

-- North Korea bans mobile phones - North Korea may have banned mobile phones only 18 months after allowing them to be introduced, and reports are coming in of the already isolated country building a barbed-wire fence along its border with China to prevent smuggling (June 04)

emily | 2:06 PM | SMS and Politics |
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