Archived Link

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.

  • m3t00🌎@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    2 hours ago

    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.

  • Jhex@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    23
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    7 hours ago

    does anyone really think our freedom phones are far from this?

    Maybe the western world can be given some credit on being a tad more subtle, but overall the difference here are in tecnique, not goals

    • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      3 hours ago

      Yes, because here in the capitalist USA I am free to choose what phone and carrier I use, and what OS and software my phone have on them. The free market decided that I should have access to bootloader unlockable phones with open source OS and zero shitty Facebook apps spying on me.

      • Jhex@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 hour ago

        Tell me you are blind to privilege without telling me you are blind to privilege…

        I get what you are saying but claiming that Capitalism and the Free Market got you there is laughable.

        A shit ton of people in the USA do not actually have a choice in carrier and choice of phone seriously depends on how rich you are, the spread is wide!

        More importantly, how many people do you think have the tech knowledge (or access to pay) to get an open source OS in their phones?

    • Rekorse@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      arrow-down
      7
      ·
      7 hours ago

      Its funny, a screenshot every 5 minutes that might be reviewed later on if needed sounds less intrusive than western efforts like google, amazon, etc.

      • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        28 minutes ago

        Tracking someone’s history through screenshots sounds like a fucking nightmare for the person doing the searching.

        It’s evil, but also a PITA for the analyst.

        • Zink@programming.dev
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          3 hours ago

          Eh, they didn’t exactly paint it in a good light. It’s more like not laughing too much at the ordinary NK citizen’s big brother plight while the rest of us are being monitored constantly and much more real time.

          The two situations are not the same, but the parallels show his we all deal with this crap in our own ways.

    • Tire@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      10
      ·
      7 hours ago

      Can you provide more information on how western governments are spying?

    • monotremata@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 hour ago

      Seriously. This is exactly what people object to about Windows Recall. In its re-released version at least it’s opt-in for now, but it’s still eerily close to this.

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    6 hours ago

    I’d have been shocked if it didn’t record everything. Who you call, texts, voice, installed apps ans usage. Snapping pics is pretty grim, though.

    • moseschrute@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      edit-2
      6 hours ago

      I’m sure it’s not to the same extent, but I feel like US does the same thing just not as directly. Like the fact that they can triangulate my position at any moment in time with cell tower data.

    • ziggurat@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      8 hours ago

      No that’s totally different… it will be used the same way but it takes much less manual work to perform

  • smol_beans@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    29
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    19 hours ago

    Probly happens in the US too but we won’t know until a whistleblower comes forward and gets a lifetime of solitary confinement for telling us

    • rottingleaf@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      edit-2
      13 hours ago

      Yep. Just like with reverse-engineering software and making unintented use of proprietary services, whistleblowing depends at nobody being able to threaten you with jail or worse.

      Your country should have made it law when Watergate and such were still fresh in memory. To make such mechanisms not just “de facto”, but “de jure” reality. Because any “de facto” either becomes “de jure” or vanishes without a trace.

      EDIT: similar with “adversarial interop” CD was talking about

      EDIT2: or Gutenberg and the printing press and the conflicts to ensue…

  • surph_ninja@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    38
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    1 day ago

    It’s funny, because it’s their government’s version of knockoff spyware, and decades out of date. Western governments get a live feed out of their backdoors.

    • gwilikers@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      1 day ago

      Oh yeah, have there been reports on this ?

      (Not trying to shut you down, I’m genuinely curious)

      • h6a@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        8 hours ago

        There’s an extremely powerful backdoor in every processor/chipset. Intel named it “Management Engine” and AMD “Secure Technology”.

        From the Wikipedia page on Management Engine:

        The ME has its own MAC and IP address for the out-of-band management interface, with direct access to the Ethernet controller; one portion of the Ethernet traffic is diverted to the ME even before reaching the host’s operating system.

        ME has Serial over LAN, so it’s possible that attackers can have a more intimate access to your hardware than your Operating System.

        I imagine other manufacturers have similar frameworks.

        Full article.

        • jim3692@discuss.online
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          8 hours ago

          Sure, those could theoretically be used for backdoor access to your computer.

          However, they are trivial to spot on most routers. If you see another device on the ethernet port that your computer connects to, then something weird is going on.

          Another important consideration is the fact that those technologies are meant for ethernet, while most people use laptops with wifi.

      • surph_ninja@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        13
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        22 hours ago

        Yeah, there have been various leaks over the years that trickle out. Supposedly they’ve banned companies from operating in the US for refusal to comply with backdoor demands (Hawei, Kaspersky), some reports of backdoors built right into both Intel & AMD processors, some vague stuff that’s come out about backdoors in Windows, etc. Even when the companies refuse to comply, there’s been reports of US intelligence going into factories or intercepting deliveries to install spy chips into hardware. I recall there was a local ISP provider somewhere in the mid-west that got shut down for refusing to install spy devices in their facilities.

        Really a lot of this was confirmed as far back as Snowden. And plenty of whistleblowers and leaks since.

  • billionzmade@lemmy.cafe
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    6
    ·
    10 hours ago

    Say what you want about them but they’re the only one who truely know how to deal with the right wingers. Look at Germany, they abolished the Stasi and not even 30 years later the nazi are as popular as ever

    • thedeadwalking4242@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      7 hours ago

      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.

        • Zoe@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          5 hours ago

          There can be no communist state as communism is anti-state, but the nordic countries in Europe are great examples of successful democratic socialism

          • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            5 hours ago

            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.

    • Machinist@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      7 hours ago

      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?