Google boss defies criticism with trip to North Korea

Google’s chairman wants a first-hand look at North Korea’s economy and social media during his private visit to the communist nation, his delegation said, despite misgivings in Washington over the timing of the trip.

Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of one of the world’s biggest internet companies, is the highest-profile US executive to visit North Korea — a country with notoriously restrictive online policies — since young leader Kim Jong-un took power a year ago. His visit has drawn criticism from the US state department because it comes only weeks after a controversial North Korean rocket launch; it has also prompted speculation about what the businessman hopes to accomplish.