Notel (), also called NoteTel, is a brand of

portable media player A portable media player (PMP) or digital audio player (DAP) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. Normally they refer to small, Electric battery, batter ...

made in China which is popular in

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

. The word is a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of "

notebook A notebook (also known as a notepad, writing pad, drawing pad, or legal pad) is a book or stack of paper pages that are often ruled and used for purposes such as note-taking, journaling or other writing, drawing, or scrapbooking and more. ...

" and "

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

". It is estimated that up to half of all urban North Korean households have a notel. The device has

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard, developed by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), for digital data transmission and power delivery between many types of electronics. It specifies the architecture, in particular the physical ...

and SD ports, can play

DVDs The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

and EVDs, and contains

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

and

tuners. It can also be powered and recharged from a

car battery An automotive battery, or car battery, is a usually 12 Volt lead-acid rechargeable battery that is used to start a motor vehicle, and to power lights, screen wiper etc. while the engine is off. Its main purpose is to provide an electric current ...

History

Notels have been popular in North Korea since around 2005, significantly facilitating the extension of the "

Korean Wave The Korean Wave, or ''hallyu'' (; ), is a cultural phenomenon in which the global popularity of South Korean popular culture has dramatically risen since the 1990s. Worldwide interest in Korean culture has been led primarily by the spread of K-p ...

" (''Hallyu'', the increase of the popularity of South Korean pop culture internationally) into the isolated country. In 2014, a notel's price was

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

$65 though crackdown caused their prices to drop to

$41. The devices were legalized in December 2014. As of 2015, they are available in some government stores (possession must be registered) as well as selling on the black market for around 300

Chinese yuan The renminbi ( ; currency symbol, symbol: Yen and yuan sign, ¥; ISO 4217, ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB), also known as the Chinese yuan, is the official currency of the China, People's Republic of China. The renminbi is issued by the Peop ...

(ca.

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

50), and are present in up to one in two urban households, according to some estimations. In China, Notels are no longer popular as of 2015 due to the proliferation of smartphones, but sell well in the provinces that border on North Korea. According to defectors, the Notel's multi-format support is used for evading detection of illegal

media consumption Media consumption or media diet is the sum of information and entertainment media taken in by an individual or group. It includes activities such as interacting with new media, reading books and magazines, watching television and film, and lis ...

: A North Korean disc can be placed in the device while a South Korean or foreign video is played from a USB drive or the SD card, which could be easily removed in case government inspectors arrive and check the device's temperature to see if it has been recently used, leaving the DVD disc as an alternative explanation.

References

Portable media players Censorship in North Korea Culture of North Korea Chinese brands

History

See also

References