rists visiting

ere strict for to

th Kore

he past, rule

In 2009, I did not offer up my iPhone as we went through customs

We'd leave our mobile phones at the airport but use locally purchased phones with SIM cards

broadband internet that may be installed on request at our hotel, which is for international visitors.

3G mobile internet would be available within a week only for foreigners.

sim cards are €50,

calls to Switzerland are an inexplicably cheap €0.38 a minute

Our North Korean colleagues watched with surprise as we showed them we could surf the internet from our phones.

Not all North Koreans have local mobile phones

The world wide web remains strictly off limits for most North Koreans

But they cannot surf the "international" internet

North Korean universities have their own fairly sophisticated Intranet system

Students say they can email one another, but they can't send emails outside the country.

Kim Jong Un has pushed science and technology as major policy directives, and we're starting to see more laptops in North Korean offices