North Korean phone or – a tool for control?

In a set of pictures published by several media outlets, including Reuters, Kim Jong Un can be seen inspecting the new phone in a factory, surrounded by seemingly high ranking military officials. Well, the only down side is that the phone may in fact not be ”Made in North Korea” at all. Martyn Williams, North Korea Analyst, suspects that it is rather a ”Made in China”, according to Washington Post. The pictures are nothing more than a show put on for the cameras. The case is probably that the phones are made in China, then shipped to North Korea for final inspection. Speculations have thus been running haywire as to why this play was put on. Is it to show the southern neighbor with its technology giant that ”we can do it too”?. Some analysts have claimed that it is likely a way to keep the populace happy with what they can have, instead of craving foreign, not approved technology. A black market situation has been around since the 90s, Washington Post reports, from which forbidden technology have made its way into North Korea - threatening the strict control over information that is currently in place.