[Analytics] North Korea’s smartphone industry rapidly on the rise

Using smartphones, Pyongyang residents take photos of a flower exhibit celebrating the 105th anniversary of leader Kim Il-sung’s birth on Apr. 16, 2017. (EPA/Yonhap News)

There are occasional sightings of “smombies” (smartphone users hunched over their phones like zombies) on the streets of Pyongyang. The handheld microcosm has cast a powerful spell over young people in North Korea, just like any other country in the world. Though North Korean users aren’t able to access content outside the country, mobile phones offer a glimpse into how North Korean society is clearly modernizing, reported the Hankyoreh.

One of the biggest changes in North Korea under leader Kim Jong-un is the universalization of mobile communication. Mobile service arrived in the country in 2002, but it didn’t really take off until 2008. That was when Egyptian telecom Orascom launched Koryolink as a joint venture with the North Korea Post and Telecommunications Corporation. In the first year, there were only 1,694 users, but that number surpassed one million within three years.

According to Statistics Korea, the number of mobile subscribers in North Korea was 2.42 million in 2013, 3.24 million in 2015 and 3.6 million in 2016.

Behind this explosive growth is the practical need for communication and connection centering on North Korea’s jangmadang, or unofficial markets. Checking on market prices and exchange rates in real time, taking orders for products and making shipments — it all takes place on mobile phones.

“Mobile phones are a must-have if you’re living in North Korea. At first, they were generally used by businessmen. But now, they’re used not only by people with jobs but also by university students and young people who want to look stylish,” a woman who defected from North Korea in 2017 told the Hankyoreh.

Currently, North Korea has two other telecoms — Kang Song Net and Byol — that give Koryolink some competition. All told, the three telecoms are estimated to have between 4 and 5 million users. That means that nearly 20% of the 25 million people living in North Korea have a mobile phone.

The Pyongyang 2423, a North Korean smartphone

While feature phones are still widely used in North Korea, the supply of smartphones has reportedly been rapidly increasing in Pyongyang and other major cities since 2013. In the initial period, most of the phones were imported Chinese models. But after the locally produced Arirang smartphone made its debut in August 2013, North Korean consumers have reportedly been turning to North Korean phones, including the more recent Pyongyang and Jindallae (“Azalea”) models.

The prices depend on the specs, but US-based Radio Free Asia reported that the Pyongyang 2423, the newest smartphone released last year, is being sold for nearly US$500. According to CNN, the Arirang model was going for US$350 at shops on Ryomyong Street in Pyongyang in 2017. The phones reportedly run on a pay-as-you-go system, with a base rate of 3,000 North Korean won (US$3.33) including 200 free minutes.

North Korean smartphones not as “low-grade” as outsiders may think

North Korean mobile phones have a reputation for being low-grade because they’re assembled from parts made in China. To find out if that reputation is merited, the Hankyoreh acquired a Pyongyang 2423. A test of its features on Mar. 6 revealed a number of interesting facets. For one thing, the phone’s exterior is much the same as smartphones that sold in South Korea. The phone uses Google’s Android operating system and comes equipped with 20 utilities (including a camera, video recorder, voice recorder, compass, calendar and notepad) along with 23 applications. A range of applications are found on the phone, not only propaganda apps like “Baekdu Mountain Series” and the “Gwangmyong Books,” but also a number of encyclopedias; English and Chinese language learning apps; an “office work” app that can make documents, spreadsheets and presentations; a weather app called “meteorological information helper”; and entertainment apps.

One of the most striking apps was called “My Traveling Companion 4.1.” Last year, North Korean propaganda media DPRK Today described this as a comprehensive reading program that had been developed by the staff and researchers at Samhung IT Exchange Company. The app consists of some 150 games; 24 programs, including a GPS called “Traveling Companion 1.1”; and 1,500 books, 900 videos and 669 music videos. That’s quite a change from just a few years ago, when phones came with regime-promoting reading material such as the complete works of Kim Il-sung. Aside from a few freebies, the media on these apps are designed for online purchase.

Another notable feature of the Pyongyang 2423 is that the touch screen works even when the user is wearing gloves. The phone’s 13-megapixel built-in camera includes a touch-up function that gives users the options of making their faces look softer, whiter or slimmer; making their eyes look bigger; and changing the background color when taking photos.

A selfie taken with a Pyongyang 2423 (left) next to one taken with a South Korean phone.

“The software is extremely high quality,” said Lee Yeong-hwan, a former executive for Fujitsu and an expert in North Korea’s mobile communication technology. One of the phone’s shortcomings is its short battery life.

Smartphones are used in North Korea much as they are in the South. Young people take and share selfies, post on the North Korean version of Facebook and talk in chatrooms. They exchange text messages and sometimes have video chats. They buy products on e-commerce websites like Okryu and Sangyon and order food from popular restaurants, just like South Koreans. North Korean mobile phones have reportedly been used as a method of transmitting money since before smartphones came out.

Locals restricted to government-run intranet; foreigners granted intl. USIM cards

However, all these activities take place not on the internet but rather on the Kwangmyong intranet, which is managed by the North Korean government. This intranet is similar to Cheollian and other communication networks that were popular in South Korean society in the 1990s, before the internet became available. In addition, these social changes are still concentrated in Pyongyang and other big cities. Outside of downtown areas, sources say, it’s rare to see smartphones, or any mobile phones for that matter.

While access to the global internet had reportedly been reserved for the privileged few, North Korea started granting access to foreign visitors in 2013. Jean Lee, AP’s Pyongyang bureau chief, created a stir when she posed a photo of Pyongyang to social media that she’d just taken. Even now, foreigners can make international phone calls and go online by purchasing an international USIM card, which is sold on location for 200–250 euros. That’s also how South Korean reporters submitted their reports when they attended the demolition of the nuclear test site at Punggye Village in May 2018. International USIM cards aren’t able to make local phone calls or access the North Korean intranet, however.

By Kim Ji-eun and Noh Ji-won, staff reporters

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