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Here Is The Most Popular Internet Search Engine In North Korea

REUTERS/KCNA

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Ryan Pickrell China/Asia Pacific Reporter
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Google is the number one search engine in the so-called hermit kingdom, Irish web analytics company Stat Counter told Radio Free Asia Tuesday and confirmed with The Daily Caller News Foundation.

Access to the broader global internet is very limited in North Korea, but among the country’s tiny group of users, the Silicon Valley search engine Google is the preferred choice, Stat Counter revealed. As was the case in most countries, Google had a commanding lead over other search engines with 92.44 percent utilization over the past year.

The Chinese search engine Baidu came in second place with 2.2 percent, followed by Bing with 1.7 percent, Russia’s Yandex Ru with 1.61 percent, and Yahoo with 1.08 percent. Google has long had the edge on some of the other search engines in terms of speed and results.

North Korean elites reportedly have access to some outside information via the internet and are allowed to use Gmail and Facebook, play online games, and view adult content, The Washington Post reported in July 2017, citing a report from threat intelligence firm Recorded Future. The report indicated that North Korea may not be as isolated as many seem to believe.

A former North Korean computer science professor told Radio Free Asia that there are only about 500 to 1,000 North Korean agencies authorized to use search engines like Google, but they must get prior approval from senior leadership for their searches.

Most people in North Korea do not have access to the broader internet; rather, most users are limited to the North’s Kwangmyong intranet. Users are not permitted to upload or comment, but they can download content from the censored state-run intranet. Internet access is typically only available to Kim Jong Un, his family, aides, certain military and political officials, and some business officials.

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