Smartphones—whether it’s an Android, iOS, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Nokia, or anything else; are now illegal in North Korea. Well, over the next 100 days that is.

According to several sources, cell phones are outlawed in North Korea over the next 100 days. While they mourn the death of their fallen dictator Kim Jong-il; anyone caught using a mobile phone will be treated as a war criminal and will be punishable by prison or death.

It is quite unimaginable how we could even spend 5 minutes away from our phones, let alone a hundred days. But it is even more unforgivable for anyone to be caught using his smartphone and imprisoned or even killed.

While this may sound as a joke to us Westerners—we have to understand that this is a way for North Koreans to pay tribute to their former dictator; especially since Kim Jong-il was responsible for creating the world’s first hierarchical 3G network. We have to understand that it is part of their rules.

So yes, let’s be thankful for our freedom.