North Korea gets new mobile network

An Egyptian telecoms giant launched an advanced mobile phone network in North Korea today, the latest attempt to introduce a global symbol of personal freedom into one of the world’s most tightly controlled societies.

Orascom Telecom chief executive Naguib Sawiris and North Korean officials celebrated the start of the country’s third generation mobile network in the capital Pyongyang, the Korean Central News Agency reported in a dispatch from Pyongyang.