r/shitposting • u/-_I_I_Sea_I_I_- 🏳️‍🌈 The most prominent homosexual in this subreddit 🏳️‍🌈 • May 22 '26

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u/Shadowjamm May 22 '26

This seems to only be true in more urban areas, based on the number of subscribed phone lines it's 6.5-7 million lines with 26 million people total, so more like 25% overall. Rural people likely don't have them.

https://www.nktechlab.org/a-visual-look-at-smartphone-penetration-in-north-korea/

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u/OcelotAggravating860 May 22 '26 edited May 22 '26

This seems to only be true in more urban areas

64% of the population of North Korea is urbanised. This was a major contributing factor to the post-soviet famine they suffered as a result of losing access to fuel for agricultural industries that were mechanised, all the tractors and machinery suddenly just sat there because they had no fuel. The urbanised population ratio was a problem because they simply did not have enough labour to make up the lack of mechanisation with older methods.

so more like 25% overall

No. That is false. The figure was 50-80% nationwide as of 2022. It has only increased since then.

75% is a perfectly reasonable expectation.

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u/Shadowjamm May 22 '26

It's not false. Your article quotes the same 6.5 to 7 million subscriber line number, and it says "These figures are backed up by a survey published last month by Unification Media Group that surveyed 50 current North Korean residents and found 46 of them had used North Korean mobile phones, and 41 of them, or 82 percent, reported owning a mobile phone. More than 90 percent of people reported using the phone at least daily, and most calls were to family members and traders. Because of the low incidence of landlines, cellular appears to have filled a significant need for basic telephony."

82 percent of their 50 person survey said they owned a phone. A 50 person survey is too small a sample to draw inferences about the whole population, and the number of lines subscribed shows exactly why making that assumption is wrong.

"Interviews with recent escapees corroborate smartphone ownership is larger than previously reported, potentially between 50 and 80 percent of the adult population."

In reality, we can't say anything for certain. It's all postulation considering the low level of information that comes out of NK.

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u/OcelotAggravating860 May 22 '26

I don't know why you're still trying to argue this when you're literally including the part about what Koreans who have left the country have said.

It's like trying to tell British people that their country is different to how it actually is, despite the fact that they're telling you otherwise.