North Korea Crackdown

Drudge linked to this story of a crackdown in North Korea. There are a couple of interesting points.

Part of the crackdown is on mobile phones.

Many North Koreans, including border peddlers and border guards, have Chinese cell phones, and they easily contact South Koreans with them in the border areas. They make cell phone calls to their South Korean relatives or North Korean defectors to ask for cash or other economic aid, South Korean officials say.

The North Koreans are going to find that this is a genie that just won't go back in the bottle. Yet another example of how modern technology is a liberating force.

Lastly, what does it tell you about life in North Korea if people are escaping by smuggling themselves to China?