Opposition protesters in Iran have gained worldwide notoriety by using Twitter to communicate with rest of the world. Concerning North Korea, it’s being used in an entirely different way.
A new account entitled “kcna_dprk” has emerged in the Twittersphere that links English versions of news stories from the Korean Central News Agency, the AP reported. The account is an acronym that stands for Korean Central News Agency, the state news service of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The report indicated, however, that it is unlikely the news service itself is operating the account:
It is unlikely that the news agency itself is behind the operation; Other Twitter users have operated similar news-relay feeds in the past, most notably for CNN. Even if KCNA is operating the feed, it does not mean ordinary citizens in North Korea — one of the world’s most isolated nations — are able to use Twitter.
The totalitarian regime bans nearly all of its 24 million people from accessing the Internet in its attempt to control the flow of all outside information. Only high-ranking officials have access to the Web.
“kcna_dprk” has 2,901 followers on Twitter.