North Korean Policy Elites - Defense Technical Information Center

communications and ensuring his ability to link to critical parts of the regime through the
“number one” communication lines.
Kim Chong-il has identified computer technology as a growth industry for the country.
Recent articles tout the advancements in the information technology sector and the proliferation
of e-mail, even down to the average citizen. 58 Despite the fanfare surrounding these innovations,
information technology is a closely guarded industry in North Korea, available only to the elite. 59
The various bureaucracies are loosely tied together through an intranet, which can be accessed
by senior government officials, but it is not linked to an outside server, thus preventing even
members of the leadership from surfing the worldwide web. 60
Kim Chong-il’s eldest son, Kim Chong-nam, has been placed in charge of the IT industry.
The fact that Kim Chong-nam has close ties to the State Security Department would suggest that
sophisticated monitoring techniques are being designed in coordination with advances in the
technology. 61 In addition, North Korea has recently established its own server, run out of the
International Communications Department of the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications. 62
This makes monitoring easier than in the past when e-mails between North Korea and third
countries were relayed through the Internet site of Sili Bank in Shenyang, China.
External Information
Kim Chong-il is believed to be the only individual within the North Korean leadership to
have unrestricted access to foreign media. 63 According to numerous defector accounts, he
monitors foreign news broadcasts, including CNN, NHK (Japanese Broadcasting Corporation),
BBC, and KBC (Korean Broadcasting Corporation). He also has access to computer networkbased
information, which, as discussed above, is extremely limited to the rest of North Korea. 64
It has been suggested that Kim Chong-il uses the Internet to supplement information available
from other media outlets.
In addition to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which provides intelligence gathered from
embassies, Kim Chong-il’s major sources for foreign information are the KWP’s International
58 Kim In, “North Korea Sets Up an International E-mail Server,” Choson Ilbo (November 28, 2003).
59 According to one source, it costs $60 to send a single e-mail from North Korea. Kim Young-su, op. cit.
60 Discussion with various Russian and South Korean sources, November 2003.
61 Because of the Guard Command’s portfolio for communication security, as well as the high level of trust it enjoys
from Kim Chong-il, it can be assumed that it most likely also plays a monitoring role.
62 Kim In, op. cit.
63 Discussion with North Korean analysts at the Korean Institute for National Unification, November 2003.
64 According to Chinese sources, who accompanied Kim Chong-il on his last trip to China, “He travels with a laptop
computer and surfs the Internet 4-5 hours a day.” Discussion with American scholars who have had contact with
these Chinese interlocutors, January 2004.
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