Cuba's isolation is only from the United States. The rest of the world comes and goes as they please. It's a favourite tourist destination of many Canadians and Europeans. I've seen Chinese construction and petroleum interests there as well.

As for Internet, they had it, but prices are far beyond what an individual can afford. It was also so slow it wasn't worth bothering. I gave up after 30 minutes having only downloaded a few emails.

I recently met a Web developer visiting Toronto from Cuba. I was impressed that he could get any work done with such slow downloads.

I can think of similarities between North Korea and pretty much any other country in the world. I'm sure you can as well.