North Korea's Internet Usage Rate '0'... Lowest Among 230 Countries

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] A survey has revealed that North Korea ranks at the bottom globally in internet access rates and social networking service (SNS) usage. It is pointed out that ordinary citizens cannot use the internet except for some high-ranking officials and intelligence authorities.

On the 19th, according to Radio Free Asia (RFA), the international data analysis organization Visual Capitalist, headquartered in Canada, and the internet data analysis agency DataReportal in Singapore recently stated in their "Digital 2020 Global Overview" report that "North Korea is the only country in the world that prohibits its residents from using the internet."

The survey analyzed internet access rates and social networking usage rates across 230 countries worldwide. The report pointed out that there is no internet penetration among the general population in North Korea.

The report further analyzed that virtually all North Korean residents are unable to access the internet, ranking it the lowest among the 230 surveyed countries. In comparison, South Sudan and Eritrea in Africa have internet access rates of 8% of their total populations, while Burundi and Somalia have 10%. North Korea is known to use an intranet called "Kwangmyong" that is accessible only internally.

Regarding this, Matthew Ha, a cybersecurity expert at the U.S. Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), told Radio Free Asia (RFA), "North Korea has a lower internet access rate than African countries such as South Sudan and Eritrea, which have relatively higher gross domestic products (GDP), due to its oppressive information blocking policies regardless of its economic capacity."

Researcher Ha added, "The North Korean government deliberately blocks internet access because allowing open internet access to its citizens could lead to opposition against the policies of the Kim Jong-un regime."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.