N. Korea offers mobile internet access for foreigners

Foreigners living in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea can get access to the mobile Internet starting from Monday.

Du Baiyu, a Xinhua reporter based in the DPRK, paid 75 euro upon registration with the Korean-Egyptian joint venture company Koryolink and became the first foreigner to surf the Internet from a cellphone.

Koryolink had tried for more than one year to negotiate with DPRK authorities, and got the approval recently, an unnamed technician with the company said, stressing it has nothing to do with the Google trip.

Du said with excitement after testing that "it is fast, and webpage surfing is not restricted."

However, the charge is comparatively high, she said, noting there are different levels of charge standard, from 400 euro/10G, 250 euro/5G, to 150euro/2G for USB modem and 10 euro for SIM card per month to get access to Internet.

The move came one month after the DPRK began allowing foreigners to bring their own cellphones into the country to purchase Koryolink-made SIM cards, at the airport or at Koryolink shops for 50 euro (70 U.S. dollars).

The DPRK citizens will still not have access to the mobile Internet service or make international calls.

There are 1.8 million 3G cellphone users across the country. However, DPRK citizens and foreigners can not make calls between each other because their SIM cards set by different segments.