NK tech capabilities put on spotlight

Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, right, and Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt walk through the Beijing International Airport, Thursday, after completing their visit to North Korea. / Yonhap

A trip to North Korea by Google’s Eric Schmidt this week has sparked speculation over whether the Kim Jong-un regime is politically inclined to increase internet access for his people. Additionally, there are questions over whether the impoverished state is technologically capable of the move.

Watchers say the North may exceed some expectations with its proficiency in fields related to the Internet, despite being one of the world’s poorest nations.

“If they want, they can easily ramp up Internet access: the basis infrastructure is already in place; they only have to ‘push a button,’” Paul Tija, founder of GPI Consultancy, a Dutch consultancy firm in the field of global sourcing, stated in an email. “This is a political issue and not a technical issue.”

Former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, who led the delegation, said it stressed to authorities there that greater openness would benefit the country. But analysts argue that internet freedom would compromise the regime’s iron-fisted control over the people.

Kim Jong-un has tied the recent success of the North’s three-stage Unha-3 rocket to the country’s drive to make advances in science and technology and has stressed the need to “stir up a hot wind of great innovation” to drive the economy.

The North’s economy remains hobbled due to a chronic lack of capital and its efforts to attract foreign investment remain hampered by international sanctions and a dubious reputation over its nuclear weapons programs.

Still, watchers say it has quietly built up an IT sector with droves of technicians trained in areas including animation and game design to IT security, hoping this will drive future growth.

“The level of knowledge within North-Korean software companies can be compared with the level of knowledge within European companies,” said Tija, who estimates the country has 10,000 professionals working in the field and many more trained.

On Wednesday, Schmidt toured the heart of the North’s computer industry, the Korea Computer Center (KCC), which produces its own version of the operating system Linux, e-learning and products including an award-winning version of the popular game “Go.”

The KCC has several overseas branches that allow it to offer foreign clients services ranging from data entry to Web site production and mobile app development, according to a report by Tia. Advanced skills include “programming inputs for enterprise resource planning systems, business process management systems, and e-business applications,” the report said. Specialists also work in IT security such as fingerprint identity products.

Improvements in the sector come as the number of cell phone users in the North has boomed to beyond 1.5 million, which analysts say points to a growing middle class of consumers especially around the capital.

The country has also recently introduced a tablet, called “Samjiyeon,” as well as touch screen phones and other gadgets.

However, efforts by the North to fashion itself as an outsourcing destination face severe hurdles, and Tija points out that “a lot of branding and marketing” still needs to be done to attract investment.

Many analysts also point to South Korea’s difficulties at a stalled tourism project at Mt. Geumgang in the North, as well as reportedly poor relations between Chinese investors and their North Korean partners as deterrents to more fulsome engagement with the regime. <The Korea Times/Kim Young-jin>