N.Koreans 'Tried to Get Confidential Google Software'

Google's chief Eric Schmidt, who visited North Korea in January this year, said North Korean officials tried to get classified software technology from him.

Speaking at a seminar in Washington on Saturday, Schmidt said North Korean officials persistently prodded him to reveal details of the next version of Google's Android OS for smartphones, but he declined.

Schmidt admitted increased Internet access would not translate into better living conditions for North Koreans. "But their governments are not like our governments... In that context, (autocratic) governments are going to work really, really hard to stop this, because the way to really get a dictator going is to threaten his authority."

In an interview with MSNBC last week, Schmidt said North Korea is the "weirdest place ever." He said ordinary North Koreans are denied Internet access, which is available to the government, and while a million mobile phones are in use there, Internet connections are not available.

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