News

North Korea is Building Their Own VR Lab

The new science and technology complex now has a room with an official looking virtual reality sign.

According to a report from North Korea’s tourism monthly periodical DPRK Today, the secretive state is putting the finishing touches on their new science complex, but not without one key addition.

Like any science and technology center should have, North Korea has built themselves their very own VR lab.

An image provided to NK News shows the outside of the laboratory with a sign stating “Virtual Reality Science Lab.”

Sign reading ‘virtual reality science lab’

Sign reading ‘virtual reality science lab’

“[The VR Lab] looks geared for secondary school students rather than for experts…They said the lab is being used as a virtual laboratory for physics, chemistry and other experiments,” professor Chan-Mo Park from Pyongyang University of Science and Technology told NK News during an in-person visit.

So what do you think happens in a North Korean virtual reality lab?

“In the lab you see videos that show the virtual reality technology and its application,” commented Professor Park. “I saw only one VR Lab and there were many desk-top computers.”

There aren’t any other images available of the VR lab, but why do I get this feeling that behind the door with the sign, there is just a room filled with people watching classroom educational videos about VR, or maybe even 360° videos about North Korea like the one Jaunt and ABC News just teamed up to create.

north-korea-science-virtual-reality2

This might be a great time to add that if you’re looking to check whether your PC meets the recommended requirements for VR, you might want to check that now for Rift or Vive.

Whatever’s behind the door, this just reminded me that we need a sign for our VR lab too.

About the Scout

Jonathan Nafarrete

Jonathan Nafarrete is the co-founder of VRScout.

Send this to a friend