NEW YORK TIMES
IHT RENDEZVOUZ [22/02/13]
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| Jon Chol Jin/Associated Press North Korea said it will allow Koryolink to give foreigners access to mobile Internet service. In January, above, tourists inquired about cellphone rentals at Pyongyang Airport. [SOURCE: http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com] |
HONG KONG — North Korea will finally allow Internet searches on mobile devices and laptops. But if you’re a North Korean, you’re out of luck — only foreigners will get this privilege.
Cracking the door open slightly to wider Internet use, the government will allow a company called Koryolink to give foreigners access to 3G mobile Internet service by March 1, The Associated Press reported.
The decision, announced Friday, comes a month after Google’s chairman, Eric E. Schmidt, visited Pyongyang and prodded officials on allowing Internet access, noting how easy it would be to set up through Koryolink’s expanding 3G network. Presumably, his appeal was directed at giving North Koreans such capability.
“As the world becomes increasingly connected, their decision to be virtually isolated is very much going to affect their physical world, their economic growth and so forth,” Mr. Schmidt told reporters after arriving at Beijing International Airport following his visit to North Korea. “We made that alternative very, very clear.”
Foreigners were only recently allowed to use cellphones in the country. Previously, they had to surrender their phones with customs agents.
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