Koryolink, the main North Korean cellular phone network provider, has officially launched its much-publicized Internet service for foreigners. Chinese news agency Xinhua, which has a bureau in Pyongyang, reported on the launch yesterday, the day the service went online.<\/p>\n
According to the report, \u201cDu Baiyu, a Xinhua reporter based in the DPRK, paid 75 Euro upon registration with the Korean-Egyptian joint venture company Koryolink and became the first foreigner to surf the Internet from a cellphone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Charges for the service vary, according to the report, ranging from \u201c400 euro\/10G, 250 euro\/5G, to 150euro\/2G for USB modem and 10 euro for SIM card per month.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Egyptian arm of the joint venture company Koryolink had reportedly been pushing the North Korean authorities to allow it to offer Internet services in the country for more than a year.<\/p>\n
Following the launch, Jean Lee, the Associated Press\u2019 Pyongyang bureau chief and someone who travels regularly to the North Korean capital, used the system to post an image of a sign welcoming the scientists and technicians who conducted the country\u2019s third nuclear test to Pyongyang. <\/p>\n
Many in Seoul are skeptical of the long-term benefits of the move, however. Kim Kyu Chul, who chairs South-North Forum, explained that he sees it as a simple measure to try and build foreign investment in the country. <\/p>\n
He said, \u201cFor the sake of investment efficiency, North Korea needs to solve three problems: travel, communications and customs. Above all, to get more investment in special economic zones they needed to solve the mobile phone and Internet communications problem.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Koryolink, the main North Korean cellular phone network provider, has officially launched its much-publicized Internet service for foreigners. Chinese news agency Xinhua, which has a bureau in Pyongyang, reported on the launch yesterday, the day the service went online. According to the report, \u201cDu Baiyu, a Xinhua reporter based in the DPRK, paid 75 Euro […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":151,"featured_media":22788,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n