DPRK Developed PDA “Hana 21”

DPRK Developed PDA “Hana 21”

A PDA, named “Hana 21” will go on sale in the DPRK from the end of April. The PDA uses an original Korean OS. The policy of economic blockade by other countries has effected the DPRK in the field of IT industry. A brake is put on the DPRK import and production of computers, and operating systems such as Windows do not correspond to programs developed in the DPRK. In this situation, “Hana 21” lays a foundation for the development of IT products based on the country’s own technology. The “Hana 21” is a terminal unit of a notebook size and has functions such as writing documents and making data bases as well as compiling dictionaries such as Korean-English, English-Korean, Korean-Japanese, Japanese-Korean, Chinese-English and English-Chinese ones. Moreover, it enables its user to enjoy games such as Paduk (go) and Korean chess. The point is its low price.

A plan for the development of the “Hana 21” started 5 years ago. When engineers at the science academy, professors and leaders concerned with trade business gathered to consider a public demand for a PDA, and came to a conclusion that “a lot of people were in need of a tool that could be used at any time and in any place.” Recently, computers are in wide-spread use in the DPRK, but the basic computer type is still a desktop type. Though there is a need for notebook PCs, it will take more time for note PCs to spread because of the economic problem. So, they paid attention to a PDA because of its low cost.

The Industrial and Technical Corporation, affiliated with the Academy of Sciences, developed the PDA. The Korea Computer Center cooperated in its technical aspect of its development. They concentrated on the research and development of element technologies for 5 years. In 2001, they came out with a system called “Koryo,” which is software for English-Korean and Korean-English translation using an electronic pen as its input device. They sold a “Koryo” for 100 Euros. At the same time they focused their efforts on developing electronic dictionaries of other languages such as Japanese and Chinese.

A standard type “Hana 21” enables the user to choose an operating language environment, Korean or Chinese, in the start-up menu. This means that the “Hana 21” is targeting the Chinese market. Characters correspond with Unicode, so data can be transferred to other computers and used for various applications. Character-inputting is by an electronic pen. Korean and Japanese characters are recognized even in longhand. It is equipped with more functions including various kinds of dictionaries. It is priced at 200 Euros, and is cheaper than similar products in other countries.

“We are going to develop other products. One is a high quality product that will have more functions than the standard type and another is a 30 Euros product that will have only a dictionary function. The latter is mainly for students,” Kim Myong Ho, chief of joint project and collaboration section of the Industrial and Technical Corporation, said. According to him, they will continue technical development work to lower the price of the standard type to 150 Euros.

These products are targeting not only North Koreans but also South Koreans and Korean residents in Japan as its main customers. The name “Hana 21” expresses the hope of developers that “North, South and overseas Koreans will use their products together.”

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