A report released on Monday revealed that North Korea intends to commence production of its own mobile phones this year. This follows after the increasing demand for wireless communication is the secluded communist state.

The first mobile phone venture that North Korea undertook was in Pyongyang in November 2002. However, mobile phones were banned again after an explosion in explosion in the northern Ryongchon train station in April 2004.

However, in the December of 2008, North Korea launched a 3G mobile phone network in collaboration with Cairo-based Orascom Telecom. This became the first time that the North Koreans were permitted to access mobile phones since 2004.

Orascom revealed that in the previous year, the number of mobile phone subscribers was estimated to be over 47,000.

The Chosun Sinbo, a pro-North Korean newspaper published in Tokyo, evinced that this figure is anticipated to scale to a height of 600,000 this year. It has been reported that the regime is at present building its own factory to start manufacturing its own phones.

The paper stated, "Within half a year, handphone terminals will begin to be produced. For a certain time, parts will be imported from overseas and assembled, but eventually the prospect is that development will be self-sufficient".