K-pop fans in North Korea? EXO tweets emerge from hermit kingdom

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

North Korea

Fri, September 29, 2023 | 22:34

K-pop fans in North Korea? EXO tweets emerge from hermit kingdom

Posted : 2017-07-13 16:35

Updated : 2017-07-14 10:22

EXO tweets that originated from North Korea can be seen marked on the map. / Courtesy of Twitter

By Lee Han-soo

K-pop mega-star group EXO might have finally successfully landed in North Korea.

Twitter Korea recently announced that 15 EXO-related tweets originated from the hermit kingdom, according to the Voice of America, a U.S. government-funded broadcaster Wednesday.

The unusual tweets were discovered when Twitter gathered over 1,100 EXO-related tweets from July 9 to July 10 to commemorate the launch of EXO's official Twitter account.

According to a map Twitter released, EXO-related tweets not only came from large metropolitan areas such as Pyongyang and Hamhung, but also from cities near the border between China and North Korea, such as Sinuiju.

However, it is uncertain if North Koreans or foreigners posted the tweets. But it seems obvious that although the North is notorious for its isolation, its internet connection is not that limited.

North Korea is known only to allow its citizens to use the "intranet," a type of internal network, and not the internet itself.