Google CEO Eric Schmidt has urged North Korea to allow more open Internet access and mobiles to benefit its citizens.
Schmidt was part of a US delegation visiting the secretive nation, which has some of the world’s tightest controls on information.
Schmidt has not said publicly what he hopes to get out of his visit to North Korea. However, he has been a vocal proponent of Internet freedom and openness, and is publishing a book in April with Google Ideas think tank director Jared Cohen about the power of global connectivity in transforming people’s lives, policies and politics.
The Google chairman visited Kim Il Sung university where students showed him how they use Google to look for information online.
Officials say the students have had internet access since April 2010. But it is widely thought that most North Koreans have never surfed the worldwide web.
The visit has been criticized for appearing to hijack U.S. diplomacy and boost Pyongyang’s profile after North Korea’s latest, widely condemned rocket launch.
Delgation leader Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has said has said the delegation is on a private, humanitarian trip.
Google already operates in North Korea’s three neighbours, Russia, China and South Korea.