June 04, 2004
North Korea Bans Cellphones

northkorea.jpgNorth Korea has banned cellphones, what next, cameras? Not sure how many people in North Korea have cellphones, but "Three quarters of South Korean's 48 million people carry at least one mobile phone". North Korea, which unlike Iraq I'm actually worried about, has predictably not given any explanation for the ban. A South Korea newspaper speculated that it may have to do with a train explosion in Ryongchon this April, but I believe the motivations may be more sinister. In 2001, text messaging toppled Joseph Estrada in the Philippines.

"In the charged atmosphere of last week's revolution -- where numbers were crucial -- Estrada could arguably have nipped the protests in the bud by closing down communications while mobilizing forces elsewhere. It might have bought him valuable time."

Please feel free to redistribute my new suggestion for the North Korean flag. I think it's quite appropriate for the current political climate.

Update (June 5th): Thanks to the beautiful and eloquent xeni, this entry got bOingbOing'd yesterday. Also my father told me that the day I published this article was the anniversary of the Tienemen Square Massacre. If you're visiting igargoyle from another site, please check out our daily updates of moblogging, cyborgs, and wearable computing.

[Link via engadget]

Posted by nym at June 4, 2004 12:19 PM | TrackBack
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