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North Korea is on Twitter and the United States asked the communist country if it was "prepared to allow its citizens to be connected as well?" tweeted Philip J. Crowley on Tuesday welcomed North Korea, assistant secretary of State for public affairs.

The country had more than 7,800 followers as of Wednesday late afternoon, despite all Tweets posted in Korean.

Crowley followed up his initial Aug. 17 Tweet with a bit more of a zinger: "The Hermit Kingdom will not change overnight, but technology once introduced can't be shut down."

Still intrigued by the fact that North Korea is on Twitter, Crowley shot out this Tweet on Wednesday, obviously having had a translator look at the messages: "North #Korea calls South Korea's reunification plan - and freedom and prosperity it represents - 'ridiculous'? How ridiculous is that?"