Whilst most mobile phone users and mobile industry watchers know that South Korea has not only extensive mobile service networks but also mobile phone manufacturers. Few know, however, that North Korea also has mobile phone service – of a sort.

The North Koreans may not have 4G LTE technology or infrastructure anywhere on the drawing boards, but they do have 3G service – when allowed.

North Korea is an inherited, patriarchal dictatorship: The son assumes the leadership role from his father and so on. When Kim Jong Il passed on, his son became Supreme Leader. The new head clamped down on mobile phone use, declaring any use of a mobile phone during the 100 days of mourning for his father an act of war and could lead to charges of treason and long prison terms or death.

That declaration caps a long history of mobile communications control and censorship stemming from the Korean Conflict in the 1950s. For instance, only a small percentage of the population has mobile phones: The annual income for a North Korean worker rarely affords such luxury.

Those who do own handsets and pay for the 3G service are limited in their calling scope to their economic class. Lowly workers can contact only other lowly workers. The elite are likewise sequestered to their own economic tier.

The communications, from low to high, are monitored, and one false step in phrasing could earn years of hard labour.

The North Korean government monitors not just mobile calls but also surfing the Internet. As might be expected, little ‘outside’ news is passed through filters, and what web pages are loaded are politically propagandised from edge to edge.

When you yearn for the “next, best” mobile phone, it might be a time to count one’s good fortune, for only 400,000 of North Korea’s approximate 24,346,000 citizens have mobile communications, and every word uttered or text sent or website surfed is monitored.