According to the Daily NK:
North Korean cell phone users are now reportedly able to read the news and views of the Chosun Workers’ Party on the move.
Chosun Shinbo, a publication run from Japan by the General Association of North Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryun), announced the news on Saturday, saying, “Koryolink, Chosun’s 3G cell phone service provider, has begun a service allowing the reading of Rodong Shinmun, one of the major newspapers, on cell phones.”
Chosun Shinbo also announced its own plans to set up a mobile service in the near future.
The Rodong Shinmun cell phone application is just the latest in a long line of interesting developments in the Koryolink story. Last January the company introduced a multimedia messaging service (MMS). Later in the year it also introduced a video call service, which received a positive reaction from younger users.
As expected, Chosun Shinbo claimed that many North Korean citizens are enjoying the new service on the way to work. One Pyongyang man was quoted by the paper as saying, “It’s very convenient being able to read the news every morning on my mobile phone. You can also go back and read all the news from a few months ago, too, which is great.”
Another resident of the North Korean capital reportedly commented that reading the news on their phone is the first and most important thing they do in the morning.
Interestingly, Chosun Central TV ran a program on November 7th including content teaching mobile phone users of the social etiquette they needed to follow, telling them to avoid bothering people nearby by lowering the ringtone or setting the device to vibrate mode, and to avoid speaking too loudly.
The Wall Street Journal also covered this development.
Read the full story here:
Rodong Shinmun on the Move
Daily NK
Cho Jong-ik
2011-11-28
