(News Focus) N. Korea takes risk to enter information age

SEOUL, Dec. 16 (Yonhap) -- The launch of a third-generation mobile phone service in North Korea this week by an Egypt-based firm highlights the reclusive communist regime's desire to enter the information age even at the risk of threatening its survival.

North Korea has typically maintained tight control over the flow of information
within its borders. Foreign visitors are required to relinquish their mobile
phones upon arrival, and must fill out forms to request Internet access. While
its most recent move may suggest a more progressive tack, analysts have cautioned
against attaching too much meaning to the deal. They note that the service will
still likely be limited only to those among the upper echelons of society.
Pak Myong-chol, director of North Korea's Post and Telecommucation Company, said
in his speech at a ceremony on Monday marking the launch of the new mobile
service that it is an important step towards fulfilling the requirements of the
"information industry," according to Pyongyang's official Korean Central News
Agency (KCNA).
Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, has reportedly
promised to invest US$400 million in network infrastructure over the next three
years under a deal reached in January. It will develop an advanced cellular phone
network first in North Korea's capital and then in other major cities around the
country.
The Egyptian firm's chief executive, Naguib Sawiris, also attended the ceremony,
the KCNA said. He was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that the company's
aim was to build a "network that will accommodate the 22 million people" of North
Korea
If the mobile phone service develops as planned, it would bring an important
momentum to developing the North's moribund economy and luring much needed
foreign investment.
The scope of Orascom's planned investment is almost equal to what has been
invested in the South Korea-run joint industrial complex in the North Korean
border town of Kaesong. A successful mobile phone business in North Korea would
also help offset the high uncertainty of operating in one of the world's most
tightly controlled countries.
The deal perhaps also lends weight to the North's most recent threat to shut down
the Kaesong industrial complex -- where about 88 South Korean plants employ more
than 37,000 North Koreans.
Uncertainty has always been the biggest risk faced by investors in North Korea,
which is famous for its brinksmanship and slippery deal-making. Experts note that
North Korea has prioritized the survival of its one-party system when an earlier
experiment in opening its market clashed with that broader goal.
The opening of an advanced mobile telecoms network may help speed up the nation's
economic reconstruction, but it can also become a conduit for an unwelcome influx
of information.
North Korea had allowed the use of cell phones before for a short period between
2002 and 2004 through a joint venture with Thailand, but abruptly cut off the
service without explanation.
The measure came after a mysterious train explosion in April 2004 that killed an
estimated 160 people. Some experts believe the blast was an unsuccessful attempt
to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. They suggest the incident --
whatever its cause -- may have awakened Pyongyang to the reality that mobile
phones can be used to organized subversive rallies or plots, as they remain
outside of government's ability to listen in.
Media reports have said North Koreans still can make illicit phone calls using
networks in neighboring China. North Korean defectors in South Korea have said
they could make regular phone calls to their relatives in the North.
Choi Su-yeong, a senior fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification,
predicted that Pyongyang would not lose its hold over the masses despite the
opening of the mobile phone network.
"Like in other countries, the demand for mobile phone use has been on the rise in
North Korea," Choi said. "The authorities probably concluded that the difficulty
in controlling the people would be offset by the benefits of using the service
since it would be limited to senior officials or those with money."
He also said it is difficult to tell whether the opening reflects a greater
intent to open itself to the outside world.
"The North, on the contrary, is intensifying its control of people in the border
areas as well as elsewhere in the country to preserve its socialist system," he
added.
sshim@yna.co.kr
(END)

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