Here are some photos of Kim Jong-un inspecting the first North Korean smartphone

Jason Gilbert

iPhone, meet the unPhone.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) has released several new photos showing leader Kim Jong-un inspecting a North Korean smartphone factory, as well as taking a look at the country's first smartphone, the Arirang. Though little is known about the Arirang -- we'd only recently been introduced to North Korea's tablet, but did not know the secretive country was working on a smartphone, too -- we do know that it runs Google's Android operating system, that it has a touchscreen and that it features at least a rear camera.

Here is the lone photo of the phone released by the KCNA, via Reuters:


In an English-language story put out by the KCNA, Kim praised the specs of the Arirang (which KCNA has translated as "hand phone"):

After learning about the performance of a touch hand phone, [Kim] said that a hand phone is convenient for its user when that part of the phone is sensitive.

He noted that these hand phones will be very convenient for their users as their camera has high pixels.

Kim seemed more impressed, however, with the symbolism of the Arirang:

Looking at the trademark "Arirang" inscribed on the hand phone, he noted that mass-production of goods with DPRK trademark can instill national pride and self-respect into the Korean people.

How nice to see hand phones being successfully produced with indigenous technology, he said, adding it is of educational significance in making people love Korean things.

The photos of Kim Jong-Un looking at the new smartphone, meanwhile, are typical of the genre:



North Korea, and its new leader Kim Jong-un, have an odd and fascinating relationship with the Internet and technology. Recently, Google chairman and former CEO Eric Schmidt visited the country to lobby on behalf of Google (and perhaps that visit worked, given the operating system of the Arirang); his daughter Sophie blogged about the journey and vividly described a restricted technological landscape, and a heavily-filtered Internet. In an apparent effort to prevent citizen envy of Western devices like the iPhone, meanwhile, North Korea has ramped up production of their own hardware, debuting a $200 tablet and smartphone within a few weeks of each other.

You can read more analysis about the Arirang smartphone at the Washington Post.