[Yonhap News Photo]
People should pay the most expensive telephone charge in the world when they make overseas calls to North Korea, a US broadcaster reported.
Global mobile messenger provider Viber recently set the charge for a seven-minute international call to the North at 4.99 US dollars, Voice of America said. For the same price, people can talk on the phone for 263 minutes when they make calls to South Korea and the United States and for 384 minutes to China, the broadcaster said.
Only a small minority of countries like Cuba have charges similar to that of the North. US mobile carrier Verizon Wireless charges $2.49 for a one-minute call to the North, compared to a mere $0.07 for a call to South Korea, according to the broadcaster.
The exorbitant charge is attributable to the North's levying of expensive charges on international calls and control of other communication tools such as Internet phones, it said.
(Yonhap)
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
