They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and North Korea seems to be taking that to an extreme. Government officials for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea said it has launched a state-sponsored equivalent of Netflix, with a dash of propaganda mixed in.
The announcement comes as a bit of a surprise since much of the country does not have access to the Internet. But that hasn’t stopped the country from offering the streaming service. Users will be able to access the service through a set-top box called Manbang, which translates to “everywhere” in Korean. Because Internet usage is so restrictive in the country, much of the content will be state-sponsored documentaries about the government and its leader Kim Jong-un. In essence, viewers will be watching propaganda, which Foreign Policy reported will “typically depict moral lessons meant to reinforce faith in the government.”
Some are questioning whether or not the North Korean government will come through on its promise of delivering the content to the whole country. Gizmodo reported the country earned a terrible rating from World Bank and Netcraft about its Internet access. It has been found the country has no secure Internet servers. To put that into perspective, South Korea has 2,320 secure servers-per-million. The country even launched a helpful guide to the service, which you can watch here.
(Via Gizmodo & Foreign Policy)