NORTH KOREA: N.K. website begins mobile news service

Mobile phone news service will offer reports from 'Rodong Shinmun' newspaper, a North Korean Cabinet newspaper, and state-run Korea Central News Agency

The Korea Herald
Wednesday, July 8, 2009

By Kim So-hyun

A website run by the North Korean council for reconciliation and cooperation with the South was confirmed yesterday to have begun mobile news and propaganda image service.

Another online North Korean media site had reported in May that the website www.ryomyong.com set up a "homepage for mobile phones" to provide mobile service for users who wish to receive DPRK news on a real-time basis.

Access to "Ryomyong" is possible for anyone with an internet mobile phone.

The South Korean government blocks civilian access to internet websites run by entities within North Korea or pro-North Korea sites run abroad, but mobile phone access from South Korea is technically possible.

The mobile service provides news reports by North Korea's Rodong Shinmun (published by the Workers' Party), another newspaper published by the North Korean Cabinet and the state-run Korea Central News Agency.

Listed on the mobile service section are a collection of 100 North Korean tunes, images and video clips of North Korean books, art, regional specialties, trademarks, Mount Baekdu, the Daedong River and historical relics.

The note on www.ryomyong.com reads that whoever logs on to the website via mobile phones can read main articles of the three North Korean media and "realities of the socialist Joseon and live images themed for national unification."

Ryomyong also said it "plans to provide a more diverse service including mobile music service in return for (website) members' expectations and interest."

The note specified that access to Ryomyong is possible from mobile phones of eight brands including Samsung, Motorola and Phillips, or "all WAP-applicable mobile phones." WAP stands for wireless application protocol.

Ryomyong's mobile contents are provided in Korean language even on phones without a Korean language program, the note reads.

Date Posted: 7/8/2009