Mobile Phone Etiquette Guide Issued By North Korean Government
It is Considered Thoughtless and Impolite Behaviour to Argue and Speak Loudly Public Places
In China there is a street dedicated to cellphone users. On this street, users can use their cellphones to their hearts content. However, in North Korea the Government takes mobile phone etiquette very seriously.
According to Slate the daily magazine on the web, the country's population is 2.5 million out of which just 10 per cent use Koryolink the wireless carrier that was launched in 2008. In North Korea the average income of a person is less than $1000 a year.
According to BBC News report, the Koryolink the mobile carrier is very expensive and in North Korean very few people can afford to use cellphones. Due to low income, the rest of the population cannot afford this luxury.
But a North Korean cultural magazine carried an article advising people how to make and receive calls, explaining in detail how to have proper phone etiquette. All official media in North Korea is controlled by the government and it is like the government is telling its people that these are the rules and you have to follow it. This magazine was obtained by a South Korean News agency called Yonhap.
According to their translation the article stated that due to the growing trend of cellphone use in the society, the public need to observe proper phone etiquette while making and receiving calls. But people forget and neglect this. The article goes on to explain that it is considered thoughtless and impolite behaviour to argue and speak loudly in a public place where many people have gathered. When a person receives a call he must introduce himself and greet the other person even if the other person at the end of the line is unknown to him. If there is dead air and the conversation has not opened the person receiving the call should greet the caller politely without giving any excuse of True caller. This could mean that if the person receiving the call does not recognise the number and is not willing to speak to the person calling it would be considered very rude and impolite.
The official media is in the control of the government and when an article like this is published in a magazine could only mean that the government is trying to remind its citizens that they can afford mobile phones and North Korea is technologically an advanced country.
