PYONGYANG, North Korea — Online shopping has arrived in North Korea, although it’s as isolated from the rest of the world as the country itself, and the vast majority of North Koreans lack the technology to use it.
The website Okryu, aimed primarily at smartphone users, offers products from North Korean companies, including women’s clothing, bags, shoes, medicines, cosmetics, furniture and food. Payment, in local currency only, is taken from the main North Korean debit card system.
To keep it all hermetically sealed, the site works only on North Korea’s own intranet. It has been around for years but is not used very much because very few North Koreans have personal-use computers that can go online.
Smartphone use, however, is growing, and Okryu’s presence suggests that the government does not consider the technology to be a threat to the country’s social order.
