North Korea opens its first internet café with Call of Duty and Counter-Strike

Pyongyang now has an internet café: Counter-Strike, Call of Duty and The Last of Us under Kim Jong-un's regime

While the West debates video game addiction, North Korea has just peine its first public internet café in the Hwasong district, a new development north of Pyongyang designed for more than 40,000 residents. What is striking is not just the fact itself — the world's most isolated country unveiling a venue with PCs — but the catalogue: titles such as FIFA 11, The Last of Us, Medal of Honor and, remarkably, Call of Duty and Counter-Strike 2. Games that glorify the US military or depict conflicts that official propaganda denounces.

A café with a view of the property future

The centre, located next to a car dealership, is part of the Hwasong megaproject, which includes 10,000 new homes in its third phase. Rowan Beard, manager of Young Pioneer Tours — an agency specialising in travel to North Korea — told NK News that the café "marks a turning point, giving Koreans direct access to recent global titles and classics". Images shared by Chinese students on social media show young people playing on selectable monitors, with a shop selling character figurines and computer components. The regime controls access to the global internet — allowed only for research — but the local intranet allows these games under supervision.

Video games without ideology: the internal debate

The opening has reignited the discussion over whether North Korea is relaxing its iron grip on culture. For decades, foreign video games were considered "cultural contaminants" by the regime, and local production was limited to educational or propagandistic titles. However, the presence of capitalist gems like Call of Duty — a game where the player takes on the role of American soldiers — suggests a pragmatic distinction between a game's message and entertainment. Those who defend the change argue that computers have no ideology; sceptics point out that this is a controlled experiment for an urban elite, far removed from the reality of rural North Korea. "Hackers and campers in Korea would end up in a re-education camp," some quip, recalling that discipline is not negotiable.

Rapid expansion: a second café on the horizon

The first café has been an immediate success. Just weeks later, the same user who broke the story shared images of a second gaming centre, twice as large, also in Pyongyang. Information from state media such as the Pyongyang Times indicates that demand for digital entertainment is growing, though always under the party's umbrella. For now, the country remains under harsh international sanctions, but the message is clear: even in the kingdom of Juche, a good Counter-Strike draws crowds.

How far will this window of entertainment go? Those familiar with North Korean history recall that after the war not a single building was left standing. Seventy years later, the regime is building skyscrapers and internet cafés. The question is whether the console will become a cultural Trojan horse or remain a closely watched pressure valve.

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