{"id":99816,"date":"2026-07-27T02:18:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T02:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/99816\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T02:18:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T02:18:11","slug":"the-daily-life-of-pyongyang-the-capital-of-north-korea-which-is-considered-the-most-closed-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/99816\/","title":{"rendered":"The daily life of Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, which is considered the most closed country.."},"content":{"rendered":"

WP obtains and analyzes North Korea’s smartphone
Banking, menstrual cycle tracking, taxi call eyes
Blocks ‘K-drama’ instead of providing U.S. content
“Controlling residents’ needs by locking up digital fences” <\/p>\n

\"A \uc0ac\uc9c4 \ud655\ub300 A view of the initial screen of a North Korean smartphone reported by the Washington Post. [Washington Post] <\/p>\n

The daily life of Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, which is considered the most closed country in the world, is digitizing faster than expected. Residents use mobile banking on their smartphones, watch makeup and menstrual cycle tracking apps, call taxis with night surcharges and deliver medicines.<\/p>\n

However, behind this “digital convenience” lies the Kim Jong-un regime’s elaborate calculations to closely monitor the daily lives of residents and completely control the flow of funds.<\/p>\n

The Washington Post (WP) recently obtained and analyzed two of the latest smartphone terminals distributed inside North Korea with the help of Martin Williams, a researcher at the North Korean IT media “38 North.”<\/p>\n

From Cash Society to ‘Electronic Wallet’… the authorities that are responsible for the flow of funds and goods<\/p>\n

Currently, the number of mobile subscribers in North Korea, which has a population of about 26 million, has exceeded 6.35 million. There are more than two dozen mobile phone brands in North Korea and a 4G network is established. It is mainly equipped with software developed by North Korea on Chinese hardware.<\/p>\n

However, smartphones are mainly luxury goods enjoyed by Pyongyang’s privileged and elite classes. The price of a high-end handset is about $750 (about 1 million won), which is ridiculously high considering the official wages of ordinary North Koreans. Nevertheless, as the penetration rate of smartphones inside Pyongyang has increased, North Korea’s state media recently aired a program introducing “how to relieve eye fatigue caused by looking at smartphones for too long.”<\/p>\n

The most noticeable change is the proliferation of electronic payment systems. Smartphone users can use public transportation, book taxis, deliver food, pay for movie trailers, and even purchase street vendor items through QR code payments. The e-wallet app features communication fees, food purchase rights, and donation payment functions, as well as advertisements such as cabbage health drinks and state-owned companies ‘Bukgang Company’.<\/p>\n

Peter Ward, a researcher at the Sejong Institute, said, “The introduction of such digital finance dramatically strengthens the regime’s control.” Unlike cash transactions, electronic payment data allows authorities to monitor money circulation, exchange rates, prices and taxes in real time. In particular, it is a powerful tool in preventing theft and corruption occurring in the food distribution network.<\/p>\n

Mickey Mouse blocks ‘South Korean drama’ with Frozen<\/p>\n

The VOD app ‘Manbang’, which can be used on smartphones, provides movies and state media videos from friendly countries such as China, the former Soviet Union, and East Germany. What’s interesting is that it also includes famous American movies such as the Disney animation ‘Aladdin’, ‘Frozen’, ‘Moana’, and ‘Wall-E’. The authorities are providing these films in the name of ‘English learning’.<\/p>\n

Experts view this as a “alternative goods” strategy to prevent Hallyu content. Researcher Williams explained, “In the midst of a strict crackdown that leads to the death penalty for viewing South Korean dramas or movies, we are trying to keep residents’ desires in a controlled fence by providing legal entertainment options approved by the authorities.”<\/p>\n

The level of software in North Korea has been extended to the area of daily close service. Drug delivery apps are popular. Through an app linked to Kimchaek University of Technology, you can order and deliver 3,000 kinds of drugs, from cough medicines to hepatitis treatments. This is also used to prevent illegal leakage or theft by recording the drug distribution process.<\/p>\n

The women-only app “Women’s Life” begins with Kim Jong-il’s teaching, “We should pay attention to women’s health care.” The app provides beauty tutorials such as how to wash your face and match your clothes with lipstick, as well as menstrual cycle tracking, weight management, and health examination functions.<\/p>\n

You can call a taxi with an app similar to Uber, and a surcharge is applied from $5 to $8 for a 45-minute trip during rush hour or night.<\/p>\n

Freedom in a ‘closed mesh’… a system preservation tool<\/p>\n

All of these digital conveniences only work within an internal intranet that is completely disconnected from the external Internet. If you want to try to access the outside Internet, you have to catch a Chinese mobile base station signal at the border or get an illegal SIM card on the black market, and risk your life in the process.<\/p>\n

Experts believe that Chairman Kim Jong-un is actively encouraging the introduction of such technologies based on confidence in his control of the regime. Funds secured by the takeover of cryptocurrency and transactions with Russia are flowing into Pyongyang’s urban development and the conciliation of the elite.<\/p>\n

Researcher Martin Williams said, “The spread of smartphones in North Korea never means the inflow or opening of external information,” adding, “It allows digital luxury in everyday life because the authorities are confident that they can fully control it.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WP obtains and analyzes North Korea’s smartphoneBanking, menstrual cycle tracking, taxi call eyesBlocks ‘K-drama’ instead of providing U.S.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[42837,51704,51702,51705,129,13567,1392,51703],"class_list":["post-99816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pyongyang","tag-electronic-payments","tag-electronic-wallet","tag-frozen","tag-mobile-communications","tag-pyongyang","tag-smartphones","tag-software","tag-williams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}