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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.
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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