North Korea and the Internet: Building for the Future

Construction of the new Internet Communication Bureau headquarters (평양인터네트통신국건설) in Pyongyang appears to be near externally complete, more than two years after it first broke ground.

The purpose of the agency is unclear, although it appears to be focused on the global Internet and not North Korea’s national intranet and implies that Internet usage and access is growing in the DPRK, although still at a low level.

The new headquarters is located on the bank of the Taedong River, just a couple of blocks south of Kim Il Sung Square. Commercial satellite imagery shows a steady pace of construction on the building since its groundbreaking ceremony in November 2015. As of July 12, 2018, the building seems to be near externally complete. However, construction appears to have started on another new building in a neighboring plot to the south sometime between April and October 2017, and continues to date. The purpose of this second building is yet unknown.

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