A Growing Number Of Foreigners Visiting Pyongyang Use Cellphones With Its Loosening Of Some Restrictions

A Chinese man, second left, asks about the newly started cellphone service through a man, left, translating for him at a Koryolink cellphone rental booth at Pyongyang Airport in Pyongyang in North Korea Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013. North Korea is loosening some restrictions on foreign cellphones by allowing visitors to bring their own phones into the country. However, security regulations still prohibit mobile phone calls between foreigners and locals. Now, foreigners can bring wideband, WCDMA-compatible mobile phones into the country or rent a local handset at the airport, and purchase a local SIM card for use in North Korea.

Foreigners crowd at a Koryolink cellphone rental booth, asking about the newly started cellphone service at Pyongyang Airport in Pyongyang, North Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013. <AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin>