North Korea allows foreign mobile phones

Foreigners staying in North Korea are now allowed to keep their cell phones with them on condition that they leave the authorities the identification number of the device, said the Chinese news agency New China (official).

The measure is in force since January 7, according to an Egyptian technician Koryolink, the joint venture between Egypt and North Korea, which operates the country's 3G network. Foreigners can now fill in a form by filling in the IMEI number of their device (International Mobile Equipment Identity) whereas until now they absolutely had to leave their phones in the customs and retrieve their exit. "We negotiated hard with the security services North Korean and we had the green light only recently," he told the Egyptian technician, adding, "this has nothing to do with travel (the boss) of Google ".

Google boss Eric Schmidt visited Pyongyang in early January and called on North Korea to emerge from its isolation by allowing forced its people to use the internet, otherwise remain undeveloped.

A national intranet isolated from the rest of the world

Bombarded from an early age state propaganda, the people of North Korea live virtually isolated from the rest of the world. Access to unofficial information is almost impossible and severely punished. The Internet is actually an intranet for the elite privileged few hundred people, perhaps up to a thousand, according to foreign specialists. Foreigners may also be available soon at a mobile internet service, according to China news.

3G network North Korea claims 1.8 million users, the agency said, with smaller functions: the North Koreans can not call abroad or connect to the Internet.