North Korea Blocks Data Access For Foreigners 28
According to Reuters, foreigners in North Korea who formerly had online access via the country's 3G network have now been blocked from using it, in the wake of a fire at Pyongyang's Koryo Hotel, though it was not immediately clear whether the two events are related. Vox.com has an interesting look into what internet access is like for North Koreans, but as the linked Reuters report explains, access is in general much freer for residents as well as visiting foreigners.
Wow (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Wow (Score:5, Informative)
There are two different cellphone networks in the country -- the network used by locals, with up to 2 million subscribers already, and with only country-wide intranet access, and the network used by foreigners. You can't place calls between the two networks, and the phones on the two networks look different, so that North Korean minders can easily spot a local using a foreign cellphone illegally.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Yup
Definitely.
Which one of these is not like the others? I mean, besides segregation being nowhere near the greatest evil in history, American segregation wasn't even that impressive. Have you even heard of South Africa? They were so worried about foreign challenges to their way of life that there were no TV stations there until the 1970s. The cultural turnaround was remarkable.
Re: (Score:3)
I mean, besides segregation being nowhere near the greatest evil in history, American segregation wasn't even that impressive.
This is slashdot, and some here just have to make everything worse in 'murrica.
The fun is calling them on it, and watching their stories get dumber and dumber.
Segregation, especially in the south was plenty bad enough in itself, and a national embarassment, but trying to compare it in scope to the holocaust shows a remarkable level of dumfuk.
Re: (Score:2)
trying to compare [segregation] in scope to the holocaust shows a remarkable level of dumfuk.
Comparing censorship of a few hundred cellphones to the Holocaust is even dumber.
Re: Wow (Score:2)
Expect an updated U.S. travel advisory. (Score:2)
Expect an updated U.S. travel advisory.
The U.S. Department of State normally handles travel advisory updates to U.S. citizens traveling to North Korea via email over the 3G network to mobile devices owned by the citizens, routed through the embassy in China. All other consular services are generally handled through the Swedish embassy in North Korea, including an agreement requiring their notification within four days of an arrest or other detainment of a U.S. citizen.
I suspect that the U.S. will potentia
Re: (Score:3)
It is arguable that the US is constitutionally prohibited from restricting US citizen travel. Technically, during the Cuba travel ban, it was spending money in Cuba that was prohibited, not traveling there.
The US State Department already urges US citizens, in the strongest terms, not to travel to North Korea:
http://travel.state.gov/conten... [state.gov]
Anyone who does anyway is a fool.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Right. It's a pleasant experience for an organised tour. From the tourist point of view much less of a hell hole than all sorts of places you can visit in more liberal countries - including poorer parts of the US. Of course, in a large part that's because they are presenting an image to try to make the place seem better than it really is. In reality they do a good enough job to make the tour pleasant, but not a good enough job to make you come away thinking it's the utopia they would like to make out - the
Re: (Score:2)
At least if you do it you're pampered and it's safe, unless you act out (say run to one particular statue and piss on it, or grope a female soldier)
I wouldn't want to travel to Myanmar, Yemen or Erythrea. I don't know if these places are better for their inhabitants but I also don't know exactly what kind of shit I would be risking going there.
In comparison going to North Korea sounds like attending religious service as a gay atheist, or visiting a mosque.
Re: (Score:2)
At least if you do it you're pampered and it's safe, unless you act out (say run to one particular statue and piss on it, or grope a female soldier)
Right. According to the above mentioned Travel Warning from the U.S. State Department, the following then qualifies as "acting out" and can be cause for arrest:
* involvement in unsanctioned religious and/or political activities (whether those activities took place inside or outside North Korea)
* unauthorized or unescorted travel inside North Korea
* unauthorized interaction with the local population, including unauthorized attempts to speak directly to North Korean citizens
* exchanging currency with an u
Koryo (Score:2)
So the Koryo hotel catches fire and the Koryolink internet service goes down.
I wonder if there is a connection here somewhere?
Re:Koryo (Score:5, Interesting)
The South Korean name for Korea is Hanguk, "country of the Han" (that's the Korean Han, which uses a different Chinese character than the Chinese Han character representing the Han people that fought the Manchurians). To a South Korean, "Choson" sounds like a very backward name for Korea. To a North Korean, "Hanguk" sounds like a label imposed by imperialistic invaders.
Re: (Score:2)
joseon/chosen (when it was part of japan) and daehan jeguk before that.
Or it could have just been an outage... (Score:2)
Not to let facts get in the way of a good conspiracy, but there was a fairly widespread outage around the same time [bgpmon.net] that may well have been the reason, since they did say they were disabling it due service problems with their upstream provider.
jam the frequency ranges? (Score:2)