INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
newspaper warned on Tuesday of the "negative impact" from mobile phones use around the world, as both legal and illicit communications
devices proliferate in the isolated country.Rodong Sinmun published an article citing a ban on phones in classrooms in France and reports of
technology-enabled cheating in India and argued that mobile devices were spreading "decadent and reactionary ideological culture.""Erotic
notices, fictions, and videos, as well as violent electronic games, are spreading through the mobile phones without limits," the newspaper
wrote."This means that mobile phones are used as tools to instill unhealthy ideas in minors."North Korea's authoritarian government
maintains a tight grip on communications, with almost no ordinary citizens allowed to connect by phone or internet to the outside
world.Still, since 2008, the government has rolled out tightly controlled cell networks for communication within the country, with an
estimated 3 million subscribers.South Korean officials estimate that there are about 6 million mobile phones in North Korea, a country of 25
million people.Analysts say there are signs that the government is slowly allowing more communications technology, even if it remains
restricted to networks within North Korea.According to a report on Dec
3 by the 38 North website, which monitors North Korea, state media recently broadcast reports of the first outdoor Wi-Fi network in downtown
Pyongyang.Defectors who have left North Korea report that many people secretly watch foreign media, especially South Korean
entertainment.Several North Korea security agencies police communications devices, often randomly inspecting computers, phones, and other
devices for banned foreign media or the capability to receive international signals, the U.S
State Department said in a report on censorship and human rights in North Korea released last week."North Koreans caught with illicit
entertainment items such as DVDs, CDs, and USBs are at a minimum sent to prison camps and, in extreme cases, may face public execution," the
State Department said in the report.Some North Koreans living along the border with China have turned to smuggled Chinese devices to make
international calls, but human rights activists say North Koreans caught with illicit phones risk being sent to prison camps.(This story has
not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
