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Google's Eric Schmidt Opens Up About North Korea Trip

Schmidt's daughter, Sophie, also weighs in on the country's overall lack of technological prowess.

January 20, 2013
Schmidt Noth Korea

Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt is back from his much-publicized trip to North Korea. The "private humanitarian mission," alongside former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, was designed to impress upon North Korean leaders that the country's decision to remain isolated from the rest of the "increasingly connected" world will only limit its ability for future growth – especially economically.

Schmidt took to his Google+ page last night to reveal additional details about his controversial three-day trip to North Korea earlier this month, commenting on the "very limited" technology currently available in the country.

It's fairly well known that North Korea employs various measures to keep its populace free from content the government deems "objectionable." In the case of the Web, that means two different "Internets," and we use that phrase loosely.

As Schmidt describes, North Koreans can make use of a supervised Internet, in that users appear to be required to have a person monitoring them at all times while they browse. There's also North Korea's Intranet, featuring content that's been culled by the government itself.

And don't just assume that North Koreans can just whip out their smartphones to bypass these technological hurdles.

"There is a 3G network that is a joint venture with an Egyptian company called Orascom. It is a 2100 Megahertz SMS-based technology network, that does not, for example, allow users to have a data connection and use smart phones," Schmidt wrote. "It would be very easy for them to turn the Internet on for this 3G network."

Schmidt's daughter, Sophie, was a bit more candid about her experience in the "Truman Show"-esqe environment, especially as it concerned her time spent at what she called the North Korean version of the Consumer Electronics Show. At the country's "Korea Computer Center," officials showed off a tablet that could access the conventional Internet, in addition to virtual-reality software, a video chat platform, and other technological tidbits.

"What's so odd about the whole thing is that no one in North Korea can even hope to afford the things they showed us. And it's not like they're going to export this technology. They're building products for a market that doesn't exist," Sophie Schmidt wrote.

It remains to be seen what effect Eric Schmidt's talks with North Korean will have on the country's technological development – we're not going to hold our collective breaths on this one. It's not even that clear from Eric Schmidt's writing that he, himself, is hopeful that the technological tidings will change for North Korea's people. That doesn't the need for change any less important, however.

"Once the internet starts in any country, citizens in that country can certainly build on top of it, but the government has to do one thing: open up the Internet first. They have to make it possible for people to use the Internet, which the government of North Korea has not yet done," Eric Schmidt wrote. "It is their choice now, and in my view, it's time for them to start, or they will remain behind."

 

For more tech tidbits from David Murphy, follow him on Facebook or Twitter (@thedavidmurphy).

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About David Murphy

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David Murphy got his first real taste of technology journalism when he arrived at PC Magazine as an intern in 2005. A three-month gig turned to six months, six months turned to occasional freelance assignments, and he later rejoined his tech-loving, mostly New York-based friends as one of PCMag.com's news contributors. For more tech tidbits from David Murphy, follow him on Facebook or Twitter (@thedavidmurphy).

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