Heres a story so dripping in irony that would make even the sourest Stalinist smile. Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt visited North Korea earlier this month on a personal humanitarian mission to encourage the backwards communist state to open up. His message was that the hermit kingdom cant remain hidden in an increasingly interconnected world. But it didnt require Schmidt visiting North Korea to make that point. One of his companys own apps did it for him.
Dr Tim Stanley is a historian of the United States. His biography of Pat Buchanan is out now. His personal website is and you can follow him on Twitter @tiNorth Koreas labour camps can now be seen from space thanks to Eric Schmidt and Google Earthmothy_stanley.
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But, on the other hand, the more that North Korea accepts the need to open up then the more the light shines on this abominable regime. Its interesting to learn from Eric Schmidts daughter that Kim Jong-Ils vourite computer was a MacBook Pro but one suspects it took the entire countrys P to buy it. Look beyond the funny uniforms and Leninist catchphrases and you have nothing less than a giant death cult underpinning a regime that would sooner allow its own people to starve than to reform. Its a stain on humanity that the Democratic Republic still exists.
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Human rights campaigners have used Google Earth to identify previously hidden labour camps within North Korea. A blogger has pulled together images of guard houses, burial grounds and mines and corroborated their purpose through interviews with former political prisoners. Aside from a blog, a study has been published called Hidden Gulag that pays this tribute to Mr Schmidts app: The dramatically improved,special education. higher resolution satellite imagery now available through Google Earth allows the former prisoners to identify their former barracks and houses, their former execution grounds, satellite companies Satellite Internet Companies Helpful Information About and other landmarks in the camps. The bloggers have also used Google Earth to identify other landmarks in an effort to produce a broader, more complex portrait of North Korean society. For example, its scinating to discover that Pyongyang has a Mosque. A Starbucks hasnt been spotted yet, but give it time.
Even Kims North Korea cant remain hidden from the eye of Google Earth
Of course, the whole story is also an excellent advert for Google Earth. Had the bloggers used the erratic Apple Maps to find the labour camps, wed be looking at photos of Piccadilly Circus right now
But most of all the project demonstrates how hard its becoming for governments to keep secrets from the rest of the world. On the one hand, we have Kim Jong-Uns surprisingly effective PR campaign to distance himself from his thers crusty image showing off his girlfriend, smiling at children, not having hair like a bad Elvis impersonator etc. And the North Koreans have pushed their technological research to its limits by putting a satellite in to space (its amazing what you can do with a Pepsi can, some glitter and a very large elastic band).
The whole project is a triumph of humanitarianism meets computer nerditry proving that the internet neednt all be about cute kittens and Thai . One of the bloggers, Curtis Melvin, has an unfinished doctorate in North Koreas monetary system and boasts that, Make India Developed Through Quality Education Ive also been watching North Korean television literally every day for about three years. I bet his mother is proud.
