The Land That Internet Forgot

The Internet and the PC in general (among other things) are credited with bringing downthe Soviet Union and helping toss Communism onto the ash-heap of history. But the Information Superhighway has not yet reached into the Hermit Kingdom of North Korea. According to Internet expert John Quarterman, there is not a single known access node into the world's last "workers paradise."

That isn't really surprising; if you thought China and the old Soviet Union were bad in terms of controlling information, they don't hold a candle to the virtual non-reality that exists in North Korea. Never mind computers: facsimile machines are so rare in North Korea that only a handful exist even in the government. Entire ministries share a single fax machine. Faxes are commonly received at one central point and then pigeonholed; it can take days for a faxed message to eventually get through to the intended party. At best, North Korea is still riding along on the Information Super Oxcart.

Computing Japan was recently given a peek into that mysterious land, when a small group of Americans were permitted to visit North Korea. They came back with some interesting stories to tell about the state of computer usage there. Yes, PCs do exist in the Hermit Kingdom.

Did you ever wonder what happened to all of those IBM 555Os the ones with the ugly yellow screens? It seems most of them ended up in North Korea (no doubt scavenged from the junk heaps of Japan). In Pyongyang, at a place called the People's Study Palace, the visitors saw dozens of the things, plus a hedgepodge of other PCs (most of them of Japanese manufacture). Almost all of the people learning there were adults, but it is said children are also being taught. The group also visited an elementary schools and saw some computers there as well.

Don't get your hopes up about soon being able to TELNET into anyplace in North Korea. When asked what kind of modem was connected their computers, the class instructor, an acknowledged computer expert, asked in all innocence: "What's a modem?" When services like CompuServe and electronic mail were explained, be responded with only a puzzled frown; he didn't grasp what they were talking about. Not surprising. (One promising sign, though, is that English, the language of cyberspace, has replaced Russian as the primary foreign-language being taught.)

The group also met a fellow who could be termed a computer-literate defector: Kim Yong Kyo, a South Korean who defected to the North after studying computers in Tokyo some three years ago. In addition to the usual party line about living in a workers' paradise and what a swell guy Kim Il Sung was, Mr. Kim told his foreign visitors he is currently working as a programmer in a "computer factory" near Pyongyang. He declined to go into further details, but it is interesting that the term he used was "computer factory. " Is it possible that North Korea is actually building PCs? There is no solid evidence that this is the case, but wouldn't it be interesting to find out what Mr. Kim was studying in Tokyo, and who he was working for while here.

Cyberspace or not, the walls of North Korea are starting to crack. The country can't feed itself, and with the Soviet Union gone and China interested only in developing a market economy, the situation for the gang in Pyongyang is hopeless.

The country will eventually open up, but when it does don't look for the whole system to collapse. The world's most isolated nation is also the world's largest religious cult. The people of North Korea are true believers in their late god, Kim Il Sung, and many really believe that he was sent from heaven and worship the doings and saying of the late "Great Leader." If you have ever had to chase a religious fanatic away from your doorstep, or had a flame session with one on the Internet, you know that access to reality and reason does not mean people will latch onto it.

When the walls finally come down, the people of North Korea will be hungry for information. Whether they believe it or not is another matter, but they'll have 50 years of facts to catch up on.

If the Soviet Union can be considered any indication of what is to come in North Korea, PCs and modems will be at the top of their shopping list. Is this a business opportunity in the making? Only time will tell.