A smartphone smuggled out of North Korea is offering a rare – and unsettling – glimpse into the extent of control Kim Jong Un’s regime exerts over its citizens, down to the very words they type. While the device appears outwardly similar to any modern smartphone, its software reveals a far more oppressive reality. The phone was featured in a BBC video, which showed it powering on with an animated North Korean flag waving across the screen. While the report did not specify the brand, the design and user interface closely resembled those of a Huawei or Honor device.
It’s unclear whether these companies officially sell phones in North Korea, but if they do, the devices are likely customized with state-approved software designed to restrict functionality and facilitate government surveillance.
One of the more revealing – and darkly amusing – features was the phone’s automatic censorship of words deemed problematic by the state. For instance, when users typed oppa, a South Korean term used to refer to an older brother or a boyfriend, the phone automatically replaced it with comrade. A warning would then appear, admonishing the user that oppa could only refer to an older sibling.
Typing “South Korea” would trigger another change. The phrase was automatically replaced with “puppet state,” reflecting the language used in official North Korean rhetoric.
Then came the more unsettling features. The phone silently captured a screenshot every five minutes, storing the images in a hidden folder that users couldn’t access. According to the BBC, authorities could later review these images to monitor the user’s activity.
The device was smuggled out of North Korea by Daily NK, a Seoul-based media outlet specializing in North Korean affairs. After examining the phone, the BBC confirmed that the censorship mechanisms were deeply embedded in its software. Experts say this technology is designed not only to control information but also to reinforce state messaging at the most personal level.
Smartphone usage has grown in North Korea in recent years, but access remains tightly controlled. Devices cannot connect to the global internet and are subject to intense government surveillance.
The regime has reportedly intensified efforts to eliminate South Korean cultural influence, which it views as subversive. So-called “youth crackdown squads” have been deployed to enforce these rules, frequently stopping young people on the streets to inspect their phones and review text messages for banned language.
Some North Korean escapees have shared that exposure to South Korean dramas or foreign radio broadcasts played a key role in their decision to flee the country. Despite the risks, outside media continues to be smuggled in – often via USB sticks and memory cards hidden in food shipments. Much of this effort is supported by foreign organizations.
I love how, for everyone, media literacy seemingly goes straight out the window the moment North Korea is mentioned. I remember a few years back every mainstream media outlet reporting that sarcasm was banned in NK, and that everyone had to get the same haircut as Kim Jong Un. Journalism at its finest.
Then you get these two madlads who go and find out…
The news clip commentary:
The full video:
Holy shit actual media criticism and analysis on North Korea. Never thought I’d see this day.
The little clip with the meta-commentary on news stories commenting about them was hilarious yet insightful, so I definitely have to watch the full documentary they’re referencing (EDIT: especially if it’s just the 20 minute video you linked. That’s the full video? I thought I heard the word documentary so thought it would be longer).
The best boys
It really is a shame, as accurate reporting enables their crimes to be documented better, and gives them less ammo on the world stage.
“How can we be mistreating our citizens? Remember when people said sarcasm was banned? Haircuts had to be approved and the same? How can you believe anything.”
Documenting people/governments/coprorations for the things they’ve actually done is the most we can ask for. Making shit up on the fly for a quick buck is the death of truth. It just enables them to deflect everything and anything.
There’s dozens of reasons to dislike/distrust North Korea. We don’t need to make ones up.
People who say things like “dozens of reasons” often list not a single reason. Trust me bro!
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There isn’t a communist party in NK is just a dictatorship. Do not confuse the two even if it tries to veil itself in thin rhetoric.
Do you know a communist country that hasn’t devolved into a dictatorship?
There can be no communist state as communism is anti-state, but the nordic countries in Europe are great examples of successful democratic socialism
The nordic countries are comparable to the US in terms of economic freedom (i.e. how “capitalist” a country is), the main difference is they have massive social welfare programs, whereas the US has more modest social welfare programs. That’s a very different definition of “socialism” than the classical one, where the means of production are owned collectively by the people.
Also, a country can be “communist” without having an actual communist society, being “communist” just means they loosely have the goal of achieving a communist society someday.
A liberal called the nordic states socialist
You take 3d6 psychic damage
Holy shit! Are you really unironically defending the North Korean government? Like, are you trolling?
Woah. That’s pretty wild. If you’re not trolling, what country are you from and how would you describe yourself politically? Where do you get your news?
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“It Can’t Happen Here”
Unironically a good book about fascism happening in the US, and was written before 1984 and other dystopian novels that were largely reactionary to the USSR.
What do you mean “could”? It does
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The irony of a comment about censorship being censored is really something.
I had a friend paraphrase the plot of fahrenheit 451 for me, because I haven’t read it. Talk about ironic!
On another note, I need to read more
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Oh cool they got microsoft recall first
US, it’s every second they are monitoring.
I’m totally shocked that a progressive free society like North Korea would tolerate such authoritarian invasiveness!
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Yeah, but at least it’s our corporate overlords and not the government!!
/s
Unless the government wants to buy the data in which case it’s just good capitalism
They won’t even buy it, they’ll just find a zero day and steal the data while everyone is none the wiser.
No, I believe they come to the company and say “Give us a live feed or we shut you down. Also if you tell anyone we shoot your wife” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM
Lil o’ column A, lil o’ column B https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/EternalBlue
Nicole Perlroth
This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race
is a must read for people. All agencies, from USAF through FBI to NSA, were buying zero days separately. En mass. As much as they could. Just in case.
Google bug hunting program stems from USA getting into their networks and stealing data.
Snowden may disagree with that.
In August 2024, security experts revealed code similar to NSO Pegasus were reused by Russia-linked agencies. They pointed out the uncontrolled proliferation of surveillance tools to authoritarian actors
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus_(spyware)#Reuses
Could the north Koreans have a copy of Pegasus (like) software/spyware though russia?
Thats so dystopian, that it can only screenshot every five minutes. Thank god i use windows, and get over 60x the frames-on my double 4k monitor setup. Because i come from yhe civilized world.
No surprise, with my interest in North Korean culture, I know a thing or two,video here:
after the linux nerds opt out. there’s still 98% of the flock begging for ai surveillance from recall and whatever apple’s scam is lately.
Naw, that 98% has no fucking clue it’s even happening
Yes. North Korea.
WINK
Well maybe if they stopped taking all those screenshots with their fancy rice avocado phones they could afford a house!
… How do you people think your stock mobile OS keyboard ‘learns’ how to better autocorrect to your manner of typing?
Do ya’ll think that data is not available, for sale, to any business or agency that will pay for it?
The one I use is FOSS software that largely just stores a dictionary of used words. FUTO Keyboard isn’t perfect, but it is decent.
This is the way.
If I read somewhere correctly, they’re also the first to open source their swipe dataset:
https://huggingface.co/datasets/futo-org/swipe.futo.orgYou can also contribute and help out with their dataset here:
https://swipe.futo.org/
And monitored by AI.
Hence why I only use foss keebs (Futo), or run gboard with network perms disabled.
Didn’t/doesn’t USA monitor webcams since 9/11? Iirc they took screenshots of webcams every 5 seconds. I assume everyone is monitored in terms of all digital communication.
They can’t see much through the electrical tape over the lens.
That’s what you think, but then they just use the wifi to get a 3d image.