The United States Tuesday lauded North Korea's entry into the Twitter and YouTube global networking systems, expressing hope that technology will help information reach deep into the reclusive regime, according to Yonhap News Agency.
"We welcome North Korea to Twitter and the networked world," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said in his own Twitter account. "We use Twitter to connect, to inform, and to debate."
Crowley wrote the message after a North Korean government website announced the opening of a Twitter account and a YouTube channel for possible propaganda.
In another tweet, Crowley said, "The North Korean government has joined Twitter, but is it prepared to allow its citizens to be connected as well?," Yonhap said. "The Hermit Kingdom will not change overnight, but technology once introduced can't be shut down. Just ask Iran."
Not many North Koreans have access to computers and the Internet. The technology is not widely available and the government restricts the flow of information in the world's most isolated country.