Google’s executive chairman is preparing to travel to a single place where Google isn’t a known brand – North Korea. Eric Schmidt is reportedly preparing for a “private, humanitarian mission”, led by former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.
According to Associated Press, the trip could take place as early as this month and would be the first by a top executive from Google to a country considered to have the most restrictive Internet policies on the planet.
If you’ve been following the news lately, you know that the country’s leader Kim Jong Un called for a modern-day “industrial revolution” in a New Year’s Day speech to the nation, pushing science and technology as a path to economic development for the impoverished country. However, giving citizens open access to the Internet has not been part of the North’s strategy thus far. In that sense, perhaps Schmidt’s visit to the country could help push reforms. We can only hope something like that will happen…