The number of mobile phone handsets North Korea imported in 2010 was 430,000, an increase of six times over the 68,000 it imported in 2009, according to Radio Free Asia (RFA).
Based on data released recently by the U.N. Bureau of Statistics, RFA revealed that North Korea spent $35,000,000 in 2010.
According to the monopoly cell phone service provider in North Korea, Egyptian firm Orascom, by the third quarter of 2011 there were 809,000 cell phone users in North Korea.
Inside sources and defectors agree that a growing number of North Koreans are using cell phones each year. Although many of the people live in poverty, the numbers of those who are willing to buy cell phones is increasing tremendously.
As use of cell phones increases, so news has begun to spread in the country and internationally much more rapidly.
