North Koreans Buy Samsung Galaxy Phones Despite National Ban

North Korea has a national ban on all types of South Korean goods. However, it was found out recently that its citizens secretly patronize Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy phones and even take extreme measures to secure a Samsung phone and use it without the government’s knowledge.

The Investor learned Thursday that nearly 5 million North Koreans are using mobile phones as of this year — the highest figure recorded so far for a country that has more than 25 million people according to 2016 statistics. Kim Jong-un’s administration has been collaborating with a Chinese firm to bring smartphones to North Koreans, but a rising number of citizens are preferring phones coming from South Korea’s tech giant, Samsung.

An official of a Seoul think tank called Sejong Institute told The Investor that Samsung’s Galaxy series is now one of the most popular brands among North Korean consumers. This is in spite of the national ban that their government is imposing on imported goods, especially those coming from South Korea and the U.S.

Because of the ban, many North Koreans buy Samsung’s Galaxy phones from the black market. The problem with the setup is consumers are being forced to purchase the phones at significantly higher prices. “It is not about whether they can get their hands on the Samsung smartphones, but about if they can afford it,” Sejong Institute’s Yang Un-chul said.

“South Korean mobile products and home appliances, which outgun those made by Japanese and Chinese firms in popularity, are sold at a premium as they support the Korean language and boast great quality,” a North Korean defector revealed.

Apart from the advanced features and technologies, North Koreans buy smartphones made by Samsung or even its neighboring rival, LG Electronics, because the smuggled handsets come with Chinese USIM cards that enable them to make calls and send text messages to their families abroad.

The phones that the North Korean government’s partner offers come with a built-in application that blocks internet access to limit the circulation of news and information among consumers. Citizens are also not hesitant to buy smuggled smartphones since their government is selling the phones at a different price. The government buys the smartphones at U.S.$50 per unit from the Chinese manufacturer, then sells each handset for U.S.$250.

The growing number of smartphone users in North Korea is also being linked to the fact that the national ban isn’t as strictly implemented as before because more people are now accustomed to free-market rules. Nevertheless, owners of smuggled phones from South Korea do take extreme caution to avoid punishment from the government.

Sources say North Koreans remove the logos on their smuggled smartphones and replace them with brand logos from Chinese firms and Japanese manufacturers that are not banned in the country. They also put labels like “Made in China” and “Made in Japan” on their phones to make them believable.

It’s interesting to note that even though North Korea has a national ban on goods coming from South Korea and the U.S., supreme leader Kim Jong-un is said to be a big fan of Apple. A Seoul-based professor said Jong-un use Apple products like MacBook and iMac, and so did his late father Kim Jong-il.

The professor explained that this is because the rich citizens of North Korea desire gadgets that they consider luxurious. “The fact that Kim Jong-un is a big fan of Apple says it all. Similar to Soviet Union elite in the past, the rich and privileged North Koreans tend to want to buy luxury goods,” the professor, who asked to remain anonymous, said.