Some fascinating photos of the new cyber gaming center recently toured by Kim Jong Un have been posted to X. The photos show the center, located in the new Hwasong District of Pyongyang, is packed with gaming PCs and computer games from overseas.
One image shows numerous gaming stations, each apparently equipped with PCs, monitors and headsets from Republic of Gamers, a popular gaming PC brand of Taiwan’s Asus. Each gaming station is numbered. The highest number visible in the photo is 149, indicating at least that many stations.
They were posted on X by Sally Yin, who said they were “Shared by a Chinese student studying at Kim Il Sung University.” The photos appear to be authentic.
“It was opened in April (but at first only local North Koreans could visit), and it has recently opened to the public (for tourists and foreigners living in the country),” according to one of the X posts.
Kim Jong Un visited the center on April 3 as part of a inspection tour to new facilities under construction in the Hwasong District. The area is a new neighborhood in the northern part of Pyongyang that has seen thousands of new apartments in scores of new buildings constructed in the last four years.
There appear to be three gaming rooms, a billiards room and a soft drinks counter, according to a floor plan.
The gaming menu includes 70 items including many well-known franchises such as Resident Evil, Counter Strike, DOTA, FIFA, Ace Combat and Call of Duty.
The terms and conditions for users are interesting and reference Pyongyang’s continued battle against foreign influence in the country, despite the games being major foreign franchises.
The warning says:
망오락을 진행하면서 우리식이 아닌 이색적인 사용자명과 오락방이름을 리용하지 말아야 하며 음성대화를 하면서 철저히 평양문화어를 리용하여야 합니다.
“While conducting online recreation/entertainment, one must not use exotic usernames and recreation-room names that are not in our style, and during voice conversations one must thoroughly use the Pyongyang standard language.”
The reference to Pyongyang standard language is intended to ensure people don’t use slang, especially words and phrases that have come into North Korea after exposure to foreign content, particularly South Korean.
North Korea started clamping down on such issues in late 2020 when it enacted the Reactionary Ideology and Culture Law and again in 2023 with the Pyongyang Cultural Language Protection Act. The laws attempt to outlaw the many influences of foreign culture in North Korea, including language, fashion and song.
The warning says users can face a ban if they are caught doing these things.
우와 같은 현상이 나타나는 경우 엄중성정도에 따라 오락카드리용금지에 이르기까지 해당한 처벌을 받게 됩니다.
“If such phenomena appear, the person will receive the corresponding punishment, depending on the degree of severity, up to prohibition on using recreation/game cards.”
A second screen includes several more rules, including on prohibiting photographs with gaming screens in the background and that “even minor gaming video materials must not be leaked to the outside.” The posts on X do just that.
오락관내부에서는 오락장면을 배경으로 사진촬영을 할수 없으며 사소한 오락 화상자료도 외부로 루출되면 안됩니다.
“Inside the recreation hall, it is not permitted to take photographs with game scenes in the background, and even minor gaming video materials must not be leaked to the outside.”
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