Inside North Korea’s digital world, a new window has opened: The “Mirae” Wi-Fi app, recently obtained by Daily NK, offers a rare glimpse into the regime’s tightly controlled internet infrastructure. The app’s welcome screen proudly announces itself as a “North Korean-style wireless communication service,” promising speeds between 2 and 33Mbps.
These numbers tell a striking story when compared to its southern neighbor. While North Koreans navigate the digital world at speeds barely sufficient for basic browsing, South Koreans surf the internet at blazing speeds of up to 463.55Mbps on public Wi-Fi networks, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT’s December 2024 report – more than 14 times faster than Mirae’s top speed.
While North Korea’s Wi-Fi network is fast enough for general web surfing and light data transfers, it would run into limitations for high-resolution video streaming or bulk file transfers.
North Korea announced in 2018 that people could access the state network through its “Mirae Public Wireless Communication Network” smartphone app. Since then, there may not have been any improvements to the technology or equipment.
North Koreans can access the state-run news network KCNA (Korean Central News Agency) through the Mirae network.
The app explains that subscribers to the Mirae public wireless communication network “can access the homepages of Kongse, the KCNA, the Sci-Tech Complex, Yolpung and other sites wherever and whenever they wish to peruse the news and scientific materials or download movies, songs and other large-volume multimedia at high speeds.”
Among the websites accessible through the Mirae network, it’s notable that KCNA, known as a foreign-oriented service, is included. This raises the possibility that North Korea either operates a separate domestic version for its citizens to access, or that it was never exclusively meant for foreign audiences in the first place.
The KCNA’s IP addresses are 175.45.177.1 and 175.45.176.71 when accessed outside North Korea and 10.99.0.50 when accessed inside the country.
Mirae also allows access to the website of the Korean Central Broadcasting Committee, the agency responsible for planning and managing North Korean broadcasting.
Article 11 of North Korea’s broadcasting law says that the Korean Central Broadcasting Committee is the central broadcasting agency representing state broadcasting and that the committee directly operates radio broadcasting, cable radio, wireless and wired TV and internet broadcasting and guides the broadcast activities of provincial broadcast agencies.
Daily NK reported in 2022 that Mirae was popular with the North Korean public and that some people even used the app illegally.
January 10, 2025 at 05:51AM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)