North Korea has unveiled a smartphone with "indigenous technology" officially approved by the government as it can be monitored
North Korea, one of the world's most isolated countries, has unveiled its own smartphone that guarantees complete security. The "Arirang" smartphone, named after a famous local song, was unveiled during North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un's visit to the May 11 factory last Saturday. The smartphone has received Jong-Un's approval for general use in the nation. Industry analysts briefed the leader about the "performance, quality and packing of the Arirang hand phone" during his visit, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
Jong-Un's previous visit to the factory, two years ago accompanied by his father Kim Jong-Il, was a tour of a flat-screen LCD TV assembly line. During his latest visit, Jong-Un was shown that the handsets were manufactured and assembled at the factory, but reports have emerged claiming the handsets were made abroad.
According to a North Korean tech site, the handsets are "probably made to order by a Chinese manufacturer and shipped to the May 11 Factory where they are inspected before going on sale."
But those reports have not affected the North Korean leader's admiration for the new product. "He highly appreciated the creative ingenuity and patriotic enthusiasm with which the officials and employees of the factory laid a solid foundation for mass-producing hand phones by building a new modern hand phone production process," reports KCNA.
North Korea's exposure to internet and voice calls is limited. People cannot make international voice calls nor access the wide internet. The country has its own intranet network, isolated from the world's network. Google's Eric Schmidt, during his visit to the country earlier in January, requested the North Korean leader to allow users access to Internet and cellphone services.
