CEO Eric Schmidt: Google Executives Touring North Korea

CEO Eric Schmidt: Yesterday, we brought you a story about Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) executives – including chairman Eric Schmidt – finally touching down in North Korea. At the time when the trip was first discussed, most people were wondering what Schmidt and the rest of his party were doing. After all, the United States and North Korea are not exactly on good terms.

Thanks to an AP story published earlier this morning, we have a slightly better idea of what Schmidt plans on doing during his time in the communist country.

Here is a brief excerpt from the beginning of the piece:

“Students at North Korea’s premier university showed Google’s executive chairman Tuesday how they look for information online: they Google it.”

In other words, Schmidt took the time to stop by one of the top educational institutions in North Korea for a closer look at how students browse the internet. Not exactly earth shattering, is it?

Schmidt is joined on the trip by Jared Cohen, director of the Google Ideas think tank as well as his daughter and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.

During their time at the university, Schmidt and Cohen were a bit amazed at how the students were surfing the web. The article added the following:

“Schmidt and Cohen chatted with students working on HP desktop computers at an “e-library” at the university named after North Korea founder Kim Il Sung. One student showed Schmidt how he accesses reading materials from Cornell University online on a computer with a red tag denoting it as a gift from Kim Jong Il.

Cohen asked a student how he searches for information online. The student clicked on Google — “That’s where I work!” Cohen said — and then asked to be able to type in his own search: “New York City.” Cohen clicked on a Wikipedia page for the city, pointing at a photo and telling the student, “That’s where I live.””

Despite the fact that the traveling party has consistently denied reports that the trip has anything to do with Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), there is a lot of “internet focused” activity.

As Schmidt continues to make his rounds, we will bring you updates.

What do you think about the current state of the internet in North Korea? Do you think Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is looking for a way to “break into” a country where internet use is so sparse?

Check back here for more updates on CEO Eric Schmidt.

For more Google news, check out these three articles:

Is Google Inc’s Schmidt Heading to North Korea?

Google Inc Chairman Eric Schmidt: Android Winning Mobile Battle with Apple Inc.

Google Inc Targeted by British PM Over Taxes