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US urges open N Korea in Twitter
tit-for-tat
Monday, Aug 23, 2010, Page 14
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The US last week offered North Korea an online welcome to Twitter but warned the
reclusive regime it might wind up with more than it bargained for entering the
connected world.
The US State Department¡¦s chief spokesman, Philip Crowley, turned to his own
account on the popular micro-blogging site to ¡§welcome North Korea to Twitter
and the networked world.¡¨
But Crowley told North Korea ¡X whose tweets have so far consisted of links to
its famously strident anti-US and anti-Seoul statements ¡X that ¡§we use Twitter
to connect, to inform and to debate.¡¨
¡§The North Korean government has joined Twitter, but is it prepared to allow its
citizens to be connected as well?¡¨ Crowley said in another tweet.
¡§The Hermit Kingdom will not change overnight, but technology once introduced
can¡¦t be shut down. Just ask Iran,¡¨ he wrote.
It was a pointed reference to last year¡¦s major street protests in Iran, where
opponents of the hard-line theocratic regime organized and distributed footage
of banned demonstrations through Twitter and other new technology.
North Korea, one of the world¡¦s most controlled states, is believed to have an
elite unit of hackers but few of its citizens have access to a computer, let
alone the Internet.
But, even if it is only for curiosity value, Pyongyang¡¦s Twitter account ¡X which
is only in Korean ¡X has rapidly attracted followers.
As of last Wednesday, North Korea¡¦s account, @uriminzok, had some 8,700
followers ¡X about 5,000 more than Crowley had at @pjcrowley.
(AFP)
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