korean unification studies

There is a good article on the Daily NK website on cell phones in North Korea and how authorities are attempting to crackdown on their use. Amongst the lines:

“If someone is caught, the degree of punishment depends on to where he or she attempted to call. If they called someone in China, a $300 fine would be sufficient; but if the call was made to South Korea, they may be sent to long term reeducation camps following heavy interrogation from the NSC”

To tell the truth I wish they’d punish some people for using their cell phones here as well, but that’s another story. Cell phones have quite a history around the globe in political change…

In the Philippines, cell phones were central to the removal of President Joseph Estrada through ‘people power’ and South Korea’s own Roh Moo-Hyun was elected, so the legend goes, on the back of internet and text messaging. Authoritarian regimes know the real danger that cell phones present. Burma recently shut down its cell phone networks during attempts to clamp down on pro-democracy campaigners and North Korea has long postponed the creation of a cell phone network. Today, cell phone usage in North Korea relies upon the reception near the Chinese border.

Rebecca McKinnon had a very good article on cell phones in North Korea a while back on the Yale Global which is worth a read. McKinnon’s article taps into one of the themes that I like, co-opting the elite into reforms that can change the structures on which their power is based:

“The North Korean government’s control over information has never looked so tenuous, and ironically, greedy elites – whose support Kim Jong-il requires to stay in power – play a key role in subverting the cell phone ban”

There are two forces that make the North Korean regime’s attempts to curtail the use of cell phones an uphill battle. Firstly, there is an ever increasing level of information technology devices, such as cell phones, available to the average consumer. Secondly, the North Korean elite, like those in any other country are increasingly wanting access to such devices. How long can regime security last?