For many, a world without the internet, without free communication and access to information, remains unthinkable, but this is something that is happening in North Korea. According to official data, “only” 63% of the world’s population uses the internet, according to a study by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database.
No one has accessed the internet from any device or location in the country
North Korea has, arguably, the most restricted internet connection infrastructure on the planet. No citizen has the right to access the internet. According to official data, no one has accessed the internet from any device or location in the country in the last three months. This is data from the ITU and the ICT. Their definition of internet use is access via computers, mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PADs), video game consoles, or digital television.
Along with North Korea, there are other countries where internet access is extremely limited, resources are scarce, and it is unaffordable. According to official data, Somalia has 2% internet access, South Sudan has 7%, and the Congo has 9%. In India, 46% of the population has access, in Cuba, 71%, and so on to countries where practically 100% of the population has access. Cases like Japan with 83%, the USA with 92%, Spain with 94%, neighboring South Korea with 97%, and Iceland, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia with 100% internet access.
The North Korean government has strict control over the internet
Although the country maintains a closed intranet, exclusive to a certain group of people, it is completely isolated from the outside world. The North Korean government has strict control over the internet, that is, over access to external information that the population can receive. This is done with the aim of maintaining the “established order” followed by one of the most secretive governments in the world, if not the most secretive in the world.
In practice, the main consequence of this strategy is that North Koreans have a much more limited view of the internet than we users in other countries. Let’s understand that today, any US citizen opens their eyes and the first thing they do is pick up their iPhone. They check social media, news, chat… All of this is thanks to the internet. To think that we suddenly lose this access seems almost like something from another century.
In the World: today’s pace of life is almost 100 percent governed by the internet
This isn’t an exaggeration; it’s a reaction. It’s something we saw, for example, during the power outage that Spain suffered for several hours. Citizens were isolated and without internet access, and there was no power in their homes or in cities. This can cause chaos, given that today’s pace of life is almost 100 percent governed by the internet.
In fact, home office work is possible thanks to the internet in our homes, allowing us to send a message and solve a problem in a matter of seconds. Returning to North Korea, it’s interesting to remember that the country is connected to the outside world only through two fiber optic links. One connects the country to China thanks to a connection managed by China Unicom, and the other to Russia. National Geographic has even explained that “a view from space revealed that North Koreans have experienced a constant lack of electric light at night throughout the country for the past few years.” Other glimpses have shown the impact of a devastating famine that lasted decades. As we say, any information that leaves the country is trickle-down.
In short, Kim Jong-un’s government only allows what it considers useful to its citizens. This includes government news and propaganda, as well as an internal email service, educational websites, and encyclopedias that teach the same government propaganda.
