The Bizarre Reality of Getting Online in North Korea
Martyn Williams is a senior fellow with the Stimson Center and 38 North project who has extensively studied technology in North Korea but was not involved with the report. Williams says the testimonies track with those of other defectors but add new details about the levels of surveillance people face. In general, Williams says, internet access “appears to be available for officially sanctioned uses, such as some universities, research establishments, and likely some trade organizations and other establishments.” University students Williams spoke to have previously said that they are required to state why they need to use the internet and are monitored when they get online.
Williams points to a 2020 North Korean law that has ramped up the country’s efforts to stop foreign information from being accessed in the country. In recent years, outside information—including TV shows and South Korean content—has been smuggled across the border using USB drives, giving people a glimpse of the outside world. “The new law levies harsh penalties, up to and including death, on people caught with foreign information,” Williams says. (In 2021 it was reported that a man who smuggled copies of the dystopian Netflix thriller Squid Game into North Korea and sold them was sentenced to death.)
While tightly controlled access to the internet is available for a few thousand “elites,” the local intranet is marginally more accessible—in theory, at least. Known as Kwangmyong, the intranet offers only a handful of websites. “Citizens can access [the intranet] from their phones or from computers,” Williams says. “Over the years, we’ve seen lots of websites shown and offered, and it appears that many major sectors of the government have their own sites with official information.” Some online shopping has recently become available, according to reports.
Defectors told Pscore that intranet prices were generally too high for most people, meaning a lot of access happens at official buildings, such as universities and libraries, where surveillance levels are high. People willing to take the risk can try to get around the system. “I’ve secretly played the game [Dota] twice through the intranet with people in another region,” said one defector, given the pseudonym Jung Woo-Jin. “I’ve only played three times. If you play more, your IP will be exposed by using more than a certain time, then your place will be recorded.” Most people included in the study said intranet use is impractical.
Pscore’s report lists around two dozen recommendations, addressed to both North Korea and international countries, for improving internet freedom. The report pushes for more connectivity within the country, advising North Korea to stop monitoring people and to connect the intranet to the global internet. If a full internet connection cannot be provided, a censored model like China’s would be a better last resort, the report says.
The report adds that countries should work to create a “legal framework” for international access and recognize internet access as a law-backed human right. Nam, the Pscore secretary general, says increasing internet access could benefit health care and education and improve people’s human rights, such as freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly.
Globally, 5.3 billion people regularly use the internet, or around 66 percent of Earth’s population. For years, official bodies have declared internet access to be a human right—with the United Nations saying there should be full connectivity by 2030. “The real problem is how to translate these commitments into reality,” says Barbora Bukovská, senior director of law and policy at human rights organization Article 19. “This includes issues such as making the internet affordable, getting people online, acquiring minimum digital skills and literacy, or achieving equality in access for marginalized groups and those at risk of discrimination.”
Bukovská says North Korea’s human rights record indicates that mandating internet access at a global level would likely not make much difference—bigger change within the country would be needed to implement such changes. But for those who have managed to leave the country, the difference is stark. “People will long for any new information, such as science and technology information,” defector Kim Suk-Han told researchers, “which are accessible through the internet.”
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