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Subject:
The Korean War Will End, Not With a Bang, But With a Ringtone
James Dunnigan
12/12/2004 12:42:14 AM
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North Korea is facing growing unrest propelled by uncontrolled movement of news
via new cell phone networks. North Korea has always tightly controlled
information. Radios must be manufactured so that they only receive government
stations. Anyone found with a radio that can receive foreign stations is tossed
into a labor camp, or worse. Few North Koreans have telephones, and fewer still
have computers or Internet access. But several years ago, Chinese telephone
companies began bringing cell phone service to areas along the North Korean
border. At first, coverage was spotty. But a year ago, new transmission
equipment was installed along the border, making it possible to use the Chinese
cell phones all along the North Korean border. There has been government owned
cell phone service inside North Korea since 2003, but it is expensive for
foreigners ($1200 to get the phone, plus about a dollar to make a one minute
call, and 25 cents to receive a call.) The government tightly controls who can
have a North Korean cell phone, and it?s assumed that the phones are tapped. The
North Korean system is limited in its coverage. The system covers the highways
running between Pyeongyang and Hyangsan, Pyeongyang and Gaeseong and Wonsan and
Hamheung, as well as those cities themselves. The North Korean system was soon
linked to the Chinese system. This was bowing to economic demands. China is
North Korea?s largest trading partner, and the source of oil and food
assistance. It was North Korean officials working along the Chinese border who
forced the issue on connecting the two nations cell phone networks. But now more
powerful transmitters allow Chinese cell phones to pick up signals throughout
North Korea. This means that the countryside, long completely cut off from
anything outside North Korea, was getting news within minutes. Before the cell
phones, rural areas often didn?t get news about events in North Korea for weeks.
That has all changed, and it making North Koreans aware of what a mess their
communist rulers have made. The government quickly picked up on this and made
cell phones illegal (except in the hands of authorized officials) throughout
much of the country. Hundreds of cell phones have been seized, but people have
simply gotten much better at hiding them. Chinese cell phones are much cheaper
to own and operate, and preferred over the government issue ones. The growing
number of refugees from North Korea, and unrest inside the country, is due in
part to the increased use of cell phones. Many government officials are in a
panic over this, because they have always tightly controlled the flow of
information. The current generation of North Korean officials have no experience
in a society that has free flow of information. They can?t force the Chinese to
turn off their cell phone service along the border, and many officials have
become addicted to the convenience of cell phone use. It would appear that the
North Korean dictatorship will end, not with a bang, but with a ring tone.
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