A smartphone smuggled out of North Korea has revealed the alarming extent of digital surveillance enforced by the Kim regime. Though it resembles a modern Android device, the software within tells a darker story: every five minutes, the phone covertly captures screenshots, storing them in an inaccessible folder for later state inspection. The BBC, working with Daily NK, a Seoul-based outlet focused on North Korean affairs, examined the phone and confirmed that its surveillance and censorship features are deeply embedded in its operating system.

Automatic language censorship: The device not only monitors but actively shapes user behaviour. Typing terms associated with South Korean culture prompts automatic censorship. For instance, the word “oppa,” a familiar Korean term for older brother or boyfriend, is replaced with “comrade.” The phrase “South Korea” becomes “puppet state,” mirroring state propaganda. Such software illustrates how the regime controls language to reinforce ideological conformity.

Regulated device access: North Korea’s smartphone market has grown in recent years, but access remains highly regulated. Devices are isolated from the global internet and subject to intrusive oversight, including on-the-spot phone inspections by so-called “youth crackdown squads.” The government’s intensified crackdown on South Korean cultural influence, especially among the youth, stems from a belief that foreign media is ideologically subversive.

Despite these measures, outside media continues to find its way into the country—often via memory devices hidden in food shipments, supported by foreign organisations. Some defectors cite exposure to foreign broadcasts as the catalyst for their escape.