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North Korea Halts 3G Internet Access After One Month 63

Posted by Soulskill from the just-testing-to-make-sure-the-rest-of-the-world-is-still-evil dept.
redletterdave writes "After just one month online, North Korea has pulled the plug on its only 3G data network, which was previously made available for tourists to access the Internet starting on Feb. 22. The North Korean government did not explain why its 3G network has been shut off, but given the raised level of international interest in the country's activities (the country is facing UN sanctions after its third nuclear test last month) and how it severed its final communication line with South Korea on Wednesday, the government likely had a change of heart about its loosening communication restrictions. That said, as with most things in North Korea, we may never know the real answer."
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North Korea Halts 3G Internet Access After One Month More

North Korea Halts 3G Internet Access After One Month

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  • Dear Leader to premiere 10G network soon! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Looker_Device ( 2857489 ) * on Wednesday March 27, 2013 @03:40PM (#43295357)

    Dear Leader only wanted 3G to show all how weak and stupid western 3G network is compared to Strong, Valiant Korean 10G network, coming soon!

    • I assume they only set it up in the first place to spy on visitor communications. NK is building out their cyber team as seen in SK attacks. I guess they decided the spy opportunity wasn't worth it compared to the flow of info into the country.

    • Blackouts are known to occur at 10g speeds.

    • On the contrary. The official press release indicates that he freed his people of the tyranny of 3G in an act of Powerful Humility, after he discovered that 115% of the messages and calls being made were by Devoted Citizens using it to pass around Praise and Glory for their Dear Leader. Being filled with Powerful Humility and a lack of Western Capitalistic Jealousy, he chose to free them of the Burden of Glorifying him, thus allowing them to be twice as Valiantly Productive.

      If I recall correctly, that puts

    • Strong, Valiant Korean 11G network

      FTFY.

  • better link (Score:5, Informative)

    by schneidafunk ( 795759 ) on Wednesday March 27, 2013 @03:41PM (#43295373)
    This article [electronista.com] doesn't have a pop-up ad.

  • Their only network engineer... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Midnight_Falcon ( 2432802 ) on Wednesday March 27, 2013 @03:44PM (#43295425)
    ...probably got caught looking up the term "democracy" on the internet and all his family and friends sent off to gulag, so when network troubles happened after a month, they just let it go down.

    Too bad Kim Jong Il isn't still around. Last I heard, he claimed to be an "internet expert," and he was rumored to be an expert in all things..

  • I don't think we need to look further than the fact that NK has become fairly unhinged as of late, with a lot of bluster and threats.

    So either this is really just more penis waggling by the little runt to show he's got some balls, or they're really thinking about doing something.

    This could be them showing they can really do this (oooh, I'm impressed), or a prelude to something else.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      "of late". They have been that way for at least 20+ years.

      One or more of three things is going to happen.

      They get more food/aid(money) and shut up for a bit (1-2 years). - most likely outcome
      They get more and more xenophobic and actually start a war.
      The people of NK rise up and take care of business.

      • "of late". They have been that way for at least 20+ years.

        Ever known someone with bipolar disorder? Same kind of thing ... you know they always have it, but sometimes they're just a little more 'out there' than usual.

        Last little while, Kim Jong Un has been blustering quite a bit more.

    • I'm of the option that most world leaders are some what crazy. But in all honesty I believe the little runt may actually be insane. I don't mean figuratively, but medically certifiably bats ass insane.

      Hopefully someone, China?, will nut up and send in the brute squad to put him down before he moves from mildly annoying fruit basket to full blown menace. An I mean menace with nuclear weapons.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Yomers ( 863527 )
      I bet glorious leader just getting payed for trolling. He creates media events, or how its called, and additionally justifies US military budget - quite valuable!

  • ....tourists? does the DPRK really have that many tourists? Like....can I get a visa to go there?

    I mean yes, I am an American, and its probably illegal and my own government will probably threaten me and insist on detaining me for interviews after I try to return but, it could totally be worth it for the experience of seeing some of the things I have read about first hand.

    Course if the DPRK did any searching on my online posts they would never give me a visa but.... tourists? That just boggles me. I mean, I

    • You can easily Google travelogues of many who have made the journey. The photos are very intriguing and amazingly surreal. It looks like a good chunk of these tourists are Americans. I believe all the tours operate out of an authorized travel agency based out of Beijing.

      All these tour experiences sound the same. The same 2 Mercedes sedans endlessly circling the city streets where the tour group happens to walk. The same suited men with briefcases who walk in and out of the subway trains. Lots and lots of fo

    • Re:Hold up (Score:5, Interesting)

      by SIGBUS ( 8236 ) on Wednesday March 27, 2013 @04:14PM (#43295853) Homepage

      Obsolete by now, but still a good window into the weirdness of North Korea: http://www.vice.com/the-vice-guide-to-travel/vice-guide-to-north-korea-1-of-3 [vice.com] (warning: autoplay video)

      If you're from someplace that actually has diplomatic relations with them, it might be easier. Then there's this guy, who went with a friend via the Russian border (normally off-limits to Western tourists), spent 36 hours in North Korea without a guide, and somehow managed to stay out of jail: http://vienna-pyongyang.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com] (long travelogue including journey across Russia)

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Zaatxe ( 939368 )

      [...] got my Visa revoked and me shoved back on a plane?

      In the bet case scenario.

  • Never underestimate the bandwidth of a peasant hurled over the walls via catapult.

  • That said, as with most things in North Korea, we may never know the real answer

    Magic 8 ball

  • Announcing North Korea 10G coming soon! Better than everybody!

  • Likely they were finding citizens with cell phones (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Koreantoast ( 527520 ) on Wednesday March 27, 2013 @05:26PM (#43296775)
    My guess is that they were finding more and more of their own citizens with "tourist" cellphones, and the idea of so many with relatively unrestricted access to the outside world was simply not worth the risk.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • there really is no other answer, except that maybe real information can be found on Da ISH if you look long and hard enough. Nut Korea mismanagement is deathly allergic to information.

  • I'm always surprised to see these heavily embargoed countries make such technological advances be it space/defense/communications/infrastructure. Sometimes I wonder if waiting decades and playing back and forth games using diplomacy is just enabling these countries to become more and more self sufficient & self reliant. Iran got its own planes, a pretty decent navy by the looks of it, decent telecoms infrastructure and believe it or not a growing economy! Look at north korea, it can't feed its people b
    • Decent Navy? How do you define that? Takes 4 hours of open war to destroy it all, instead of 2? Iran has a laughable blue water navy. And, most of what they do have is confined in a very small geographical space, making it relatively easy targets. The worst threat from them may be a few diesel electric subs (and I'd be surprised if the US doesn't have tabs on them as soon as they leave port), but they are a very long ways away from any sort of force projection. Hell, the only country with a real force-pro

  • Maybe they ran out of Juche?

  • ...and they couldn't settle for anything less.

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