A $50 Multi-Function Portable Media Player Called "Notel" Allows North Koreans To Watch Hollywood Movies, South Korean Dramas and More

A $50 portable media player is giving North Koreans a peek at the outside world amidst the government's efforts to isolate the people and maintain a national ideology.

Reuters wrote Mar. 27, that half of North Korean households in urban areas are keeping a "notel", which is a small portable media player that can play DVDs or content stored on flash drives. Because of its portability it is rampantly smuggled into the country and can easily be passed around among people in the community.

The notel is a hybrid of the words "notebook" and "television". It is manufactured primarily in China. And while the device has lost its appeal in its home country, it continues to sell well in provinces bordering North Korea.

North Korean defectors say people exchange South Korea dramas, Hollywood films, news programs and pop music, all of which have been banned by the government.

"The North Korean government takes their national ideology extremely seriously, so the spread of all this media that competes with their propaganda is a big and growing problem for them," said Sokeel Park of Liberty in North Korea, an organization that handles defectors.

But instead of curtailing the use of the notels, Pyongyang legalized the device last year. It is one of the government's efforts at grassroots change.

However, North Koreans are now required to play by new rules such as having their notels registered. This allows authorities to monitor what people are watching.

In an interview with Reuters, defector Lee Seok Young revealed that the notel's multi-function system makes it easier for North Korean users to get away with watching prohibited material.

"To avoid getting caught, people load a North Korean DVD while watching South Korean dramas on a USB stick, which can be pulled out," he said. "They then tell the authorities, who feel the heat from the notel to check whether or not it has been recently used, that they were watching North Korean films".

Gizmodo wrote on Mar. 27, North Koreans have been buying notels since 2005. They can be recharged using car batteries, which is convenient for a country where electricity is unstable.