North Korean telecom links could be cut by sanctions

An agreement by the United Nations Security Council to impose sanctions on North Korea could see the Asian nation's few telecommunications links with the outside world cut. Digital World Tokyo reports.

"Sanctions under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter deal with "threats to the peace" and "acts of aggression" and provides for a range of sanctions including "complete or partial interruption of economic relations and of rail, sea, air, postal, telegraphic, radio, and other means of communication, and the severance of diplomatic relations."

The country is already one of the most isolated in the world when it comes to communications and media and any sanctions would make it even more remote.

There are only a handful of international telephone circuits into North Korea and many telephones cannot be reached by direct dialling. Instead calls are routed through switchboards where foreign language skills are lacking, service is curt and calls are likely to be dropped at any moment. Only a few companies and government departments have phone or fax numbers that can be reached from overseas.

Inside the country reliable information on phone service is unavailable. According to the most recent data from the International Telecommunication Union there are about 1.1 million telephones lines in service in North Korea, or 46 telephone lines per 1000 inhabitants, one of the lowest rates of connection in the world.

A GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) network was launched in Pyongyang in 2003 by Northeast Asia Telephone and Telecommunications (NEAT&T), a joint venture between Thailand's Loxley Pacific and the state-run Korea Post and Telecommunications. The network was expanded to other cities during 2003, according to state media reports. Phones costs more than a thousand dollars, putting them well out of the reach of almost all in the country.

... There is no reliable information on Internet access in the country, but it's likely that if it does exist it is limited to the very top levels of government.

... North Korea has a top-level domain, .kp, but no name server exists that allows it to be used on the Internet.

Experts say that the bottom line with North Korea's limited communications systems is that they are strictly controlled and all communications is likely monitored by authorities, which are keen to quash any threat to the absolute power of Kim Jong Il."

Related:

-- Why North Korea Is Prohibiting Mobile Phones

-- North Korea is fighting a losing battle

-- Will cell phones crack North Korea's totalitarian regime?

-- North Korea: Chinese cellphones spawn an information boom

-- New agent of change in N. Korea: cellphones

-- North Korean authorities and cellphones

-- North Korea bans mobile phones

emily | 8:55 AM | SMS and Politics |
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