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North Korea's Information Technology (IT) Strategy IT Industry, Electronic Government, the Internet

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North Korea's Information Technology (IT) Strategy IT Industry, Electronic Government, the Internet North Korea's IT Strategy Communication Books 396 By Ko Kyo'ng-min 396 North Korea's Information Technology (IT) Strategy IT Industry, Electronic Government, the Internet Information Technology (IT) is an excellent medium that can shorten the time and effort required for North and South Korea to get closer. As an industry, IT is not only an "objective" where North and South Korea can work together through exchanges and cooperation, but it can also be a "means" that facilitates more efficient and effective exchanges and cooperation in other areas as well. That is because, like the Internet, IT itself can provide a "stage" for exchanges and cooperation between the two. This kind of hope can be found since the year 2000 in the willingness of the North Korean authorities to utilize IT. By Ko Kyo'ng-min Communication Books Communication Books Front Cover (1 page) A Study of North Korea's IT Strategy There are many reasons why the general public is interested in North Korea's IT strategy. I believe one of the most prominent reasons is the possibility of changing North Korea with its utilization of IT. People are cautiously expecting that, if North Korea's IT becomes generalized and entrenched in the people's lives, it will facilitate the opening of North Korea's economy as well society as a whole, which then can lead to general political change. However, this kind of hopeful thinking about North Korea's technological aspect falls short if one looks at the examples of other socialist countries, which strongly suggest that there is only a slim chance that such change will materialize in the short term. All of the socialist countries have used IT selectively as a countermeasure against IT's subsequent impact on their societies. This kind of basic "IT strategy" probably was far stricter in the case of North Korea than in other socialist countries. The basic strategy for North Korea, thus, is selective limitation -- utilizing IT in a way that can minimize any possible threat to its socialist system of government. This book was written systematically to analyze the current status of North Korea's "IT strategy" and provide predictions for its future. However, readers will find many instances throughout the book of the author's analytical shortcomings due to the limited availability of data the author encountered while preparing this book. I only hope that this book can find some meaning despite such shortcomings, along with my hope that it can serve as a starting point and a basis to meet the high interest of the academic world and the general public in North Korea's "IT strategy." - From the author's introduction - www.commbooks.com Price 25,000 wo'n Back Cover (1 Page) Book 1 North Korea's Information Technology (IT) Strategy IT Industry, Electronic Government, the Internet North Korea's Information Technology (IT) Strategy IT Industry, Electronic Government, the Internet By Ko Kyo'ng-min Communication Books, Seoul, Korea, 2004 North Korea's IT Strategy IT Industry, Electronic Government, the Internet Author Ko Kyo'ng-min Publisher Pak Yo'ng-ryul First edition, first printing, published on 9 January 2004 Communication Books 110-210 Ansong Building No. 201, 62 Hwadong, Chongno-ku, Seoul Telephone (02) 7474 001. Fax (02) 736-5047 Publishing Registration: 23 January 1998, No. 1-A2284 Email: [email protected] Homepage: www.CommBooks.com Communication Books 201 An-song Building, 62 Hwa-dong, Chongno-gu SEOUL 110-210, KOREA Phone: 2 7474 001 Fax: 2 736 5047 This book was published by Communication Books, under contract with the copyright holder. No contents of this book may be published in any form or method without written authorization from Communication Books. © Ko Kyo'ng-min, 2003 ISBN 89-8499-171-6 The price of the book is marked on the back cover. Introduction North Korea shares the same ethnicity with our country, but it has so many different sides as well. Its ideology, governmental system, and economic level are all different. That may be the reason why the two peoples think and act differently, and also why they have different standards of living. One side sometimes ferociously criticizes and attacks its top leader, and particular groups within it do not mind threatening to start all-out anti-government movements if their interests and demands are not met. The other side is a completely different story. They can do such anti-government movements only when they do not want to live anymore, and it is very common for the people to worry about their supreme leader's pictures hanging in banners and take them down, lest they get wet in the rain. One side worries about overweight, over-nutrition, and the chronic diseases associated therewith, while on the other side, sometimes the people travel to faraway places at the risk of their lives, just to find things to eat. Not long ago, these two peoples had the same common roots and culture but, over time, they have become more and more different. This has caused so many differences between them, among not just the "upper ruling classes," but the regular people as well. The patterns of thought, action, and the basic standard of living have become all too different between the two. This "difference" between the North and the South has become more entrenched and deepened in the Age of Information. In South Korea, the Internet and optical cables are everywhere, covering the nation like a spider's web -- more than half the population uses the Internet, in one of the most widely Web-enabled countries in the world. In stark contrast, however, the people of North Korea cannot even use regular telephones easily, and they have just begun to install some basic optical cables in major cities and public facilities. North Korea may be the only country in the world that does not use the Internet. This kind of "digital divide" between North and South Korea has extended their stark differences into cyberspace as well. Since the 2000 North and South summit meeting, there has been some active economic cooperation between the two, which has facilitated some South Korean corporations' entry into North Korea, as well as similar joint ventures in third countries. There has also been an open tourism promotion for South Koreans to travel to the famous tourist attraction of Ku'mkang Mountain in North Korea, not to mention the re-connection of the North-South railway line. It all has shown that there has been some remarkable physical development to bring the two countries closer to each other. Even in the psychological aspect, it has been observed that the two peoples have shed a lot of the hostility derived from the old Cold War mentality. However, the fifty years of naked hostility against each other still will require a great deal of time and effort completely to eliminate the negative feelings and bring the two sides closer to each other. IT is one medium that can shorten the time and effort required for North and South Korea to get closer. As an industry, IT is not only a "field" where North and South Korea can work together through communication and cooperation, but it can also be a "means" that facilitates more efficient and effective communication and cooperation in other areas as well. Like the Internet, IT itself can provide a "stage" where exchanges and cooperation flourish. That hope is premised upon willingness on the part of North Korea actively to utilize IT. It is true that since 2000, the North has shown a remarkable intention to use IT. However, they have shown some sectoral differences in how it is to be utilized. Characteristically, the North is less willing to put time and energy into the areas where they think they will have more losses than actual benefits, as they calculate the pros and cons, but they maintain a relatively strong willingness to keep their initiative in areas where the opposite is true. For example, the North is still hesitant and defensive about utilizing the Internet, the global computer network. In the area of establishing an electronic governmental system, which is a utilization of IT for public service, they are actively pursuing the use of an intranet network, but have delayed any effort to connect it to the Internet. v However, the North is, in its own ways, adopting a stance of willingness to pursue the IT industrial fields where it is possible to control the socio-political impact. Considering that North- South economic cooperation in those fields is actively proceeding, one can read the North's intention actively to utilize IT for industrial purposes. It is predicted that IT will be more and more important in the future development of the North-South relationship and economic reconstruction in North Korea itself. The North currently has closed off the Internet but, once they become confident about its control and censorship both technologically and in policy, sooner or later they will open it. If that should be the case, the economic cooperation between the two countries will become far more active than now. However, even if the North opens up the Internet, South Koreans will not be able freely to meet North Koreans in cyberspace. That is because the North's opening up of the Internet from the beginning will not allow public access and usage. Overall, the North's basic approach in "IT strategy" is the gradual utilization of areas where they are confident that they can block its political influence, and minimization or even outright forfeit of areas where that is not the case.
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