Cell phone agreements used to sign people up to North Korea’s Koryolink network contain ten specific warnings, including, “You may not make calls with contents related to state secrets, and may not use the phone for improper purposes,” according to Radio Free Asia (RFA).
RFA reported on the 10-point agreement today, having obtained it from Japan’s ASIAPRESS.
In most other respects the agreement would be recognizable to phone owners worldwide, with those persons wishing to sign up being required to give their name, gender, birthday, job, ID number and home address. “It doesn’t appear to be very hard,” as the article notes.
However, Daily NK sources say that there are additional requirements, primarily the need to obtain the approval of local National Security Agency and People’s Safety Ministry officials.
Many higher-volume traders also use more than one phone, circumventing the official one person-one phone stipulation by getting others to register on their behalf.
North Korea now has more than one million phones legally in service, according to the network’s Egyptian operator Orascom Telecom. The number of additional Chinese phones in use in northern areas abutting China is unknown.
