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 By some estimates, up to half of all urban North Korean households
have an easily concealed "notel", a small portable media player used
to watch DVDs or content stored on USB sticks that can be easily
smuggled into the country and passed hand to hand.
People are exchanging South Korean soaps, pop music, Hollywood films
and news programs, all of which are expressly prohibited by the
Pyongyang regime, according to North Korean defectors, activists and
recent visitors to the isolated country.
"The North Korean government takes their national ideology extremely
seriously, so the spread of all this media that competes with their
propaganda is a big and growing problem for them," said Sokeel Park
of Liberty in North Korea (LiNK), an organization that works with
defectors.
"If Pyongyang fails to successfully adapt to these trends, they
could threaten the long-term survival of the regime itself."
North Koreans have been spending money more openly, a sign that some
forms of entrepreneurship are increasingly tolerated and that the
state is easing some of its harsh controls over the economy. In
recent months, consumption has become more conspicuous.
"The variety and number of places for locals to spend money has
really increased," said one regular visitor to Pyongyang, declining
to be identified. "People seem a lot more confident flashing the
cash than they used to be. I've seen people spend $500 on a phone
with no hesitation, for example."
There is no sign, however, that the regime in nuclear-capable North
Korea is loosening its grip, looking to make substantial reforms or
making any change in its unpredictable ways of dealing with the
outside world.
But along with rising incomes, more goods are available in the
impoverished country, mostly on the black market but also in some
state-controlled stores.
CHEAP AND VERSATILE
Notel or 'notetel' - the name is a uniquely North Korean word
combining 'notebook' and 'television' - are easily found on the
black market for around 300 Chinese yuan ($48), and are also
available in some state shops and markets.
The device was legalized last year, according to defector-run news
outlets in Seoul - one of many recent measures taken by the state to
accommodate grassroots change.
The new rules, however, also require North Koreans to register their
notel, enabling authorities to monitor who is most likely to be
watching banned foreign media.
North Koreans do not have access to the internet - those who can go
online are limited to a state-run intranet, while the country's 2.5
million mobile phone subscribers are not allowed to call outside the
country.
The notel comes from China, either smuggled or legally imported.
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Lee Seok-young, a defector from the North, said he smuggled 18,000
Chinese-made notel into the country last year. He said he ordered
them directly from a factory in Guangzhou that was likely still in
production solely to satisfy the demands of the North Korean market.
The devices have lost their popularity in China over the years, but
still sell well in the provinces bordering North Korea, according to
data on the China-based online shopping website Taobao.
When asked to quote a wholesale price for notel, one Chinese trader
in the border city of Yanji said: "You want to send them to North
Korea? How many do you want to send? They sell well there."
The low-voltage notel differs from the portable DVD players of the
late 1990s in that they have USB and SD card ports, and a built-in
TV and radio tuner. They can also be charged with a car battery - an
essential piece of household equipment in electricity-scarce North
Korea.
Legally-registered notel must be fixed to official state television
and radio channels, according to the Daily NK, a Seoul-based news
organization run by defectors.
Lee, the defector, said the device's multi-function nature makes it
easier for users to get away with watching illegal material.
"To avoid getting caught, people load a North Korean DVD while
watching South Korean dramas on a USB stick, which can be pulled
out," he said. "They then tell the authorities, who feel the heat
from the notel to check whether or not it has been recently used,
that they were watching North Korean films".
Park at the LiNK organization added: "They are small enough to roll
up in a blanket and hide in a wardrobe. They have become so popular
because they are perfect for overcoming the twin barriers to foreign
media consumption: surveillance and power outages.
"If you were to design the perfect device for North Koreans, it
would be this."
(Additional reporting by Ju-min Park and the Beijing Newsroom;
Editing by Tony Munroe and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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