DigiTrends Your source for Chinese digital insights

North Korea Gets Digital

In case China was worried about its status on technological innovation , the country can take solace when compared to North Korea’s new ‘People’s PC.’ A DPRK statement on state TV announced that the laptop shown above is being built in North Korea  although it is an exact copy of the $99 Siemens ‘Sylvania’ netbook. The computer will be used solely for viewing elementary and middle school text books, intellectual training exercises, viewing dictionaries, editing documents and learning foreign languages and has been stripped of all other non related software. The computer will still have a web browser but it can only be used to surf the country’s intranet.  It is speculated that the computer is supplied by a Chinese manufacturer who is also supplying Siemens with the same model. This is not surprising though as it was reported “83 percent of North Korea’s $4.2 billion of international commerce in 2010” came from China suggesting North Korea is almost completely dependent on China for trade. Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao stated to South Korean president, "China wants North Korea to learn and apply the lessons of its own market-oriented reforms."