Kwangmyong: Inside North Korea’s National Intranet Service
North Korea’s Kwangmyong intranet, launched in the early 2000s, offers email and access to about 5,000 state-approved websites but is isolated from the global Internet. Public access began in 2002 with an “internet café” in Pyongyang. By 2018, 4–5 million people had mobile phones with intranet access, though home use remains rare. Censorship and surveillance are extensive, with harsh penalties for accessing foreign media.