Koreaafter decades of Japanese occupation, it was divided into two at the end of the Second World War. The south of parallel 38, under the influence of USA. That of the north, under the Soviet Union. While South Korea prospered and evolved as a democracy, North Korea It has since been maintained as one of the most strong and impenetrable dictatorships on the planet, under the control of a family dynasty whose current representative is Kim Jong-un.
It is considered The most closed and repressive regime in terms of population controland a good example of this is the use that its citizens can make of Internet and devices such as smartphonesthat has nothing to do with what we are used to.
The BBC has published a video in which they show How is a smartphone obtained from smuggling from North Korea and make clear the extreme control that the dictatorship has over its citizens. There should be no sadder country than North Korea to be a technology user.
The phone, which is not facilitated by the model or brand, probably corresponds to a Chinese manufacturer as Huawei either Honorwith what seems like a Android Adapted to the demands of North Korea.
Smartphones without Internet, but with Kwangmyong
For example, at the beginning it does not show an animation of the manufacturer, but The preceding the country’s flag. But more striking than that is that It does not have access to the Internet, not to the Internet that the rest of the world knows. This is reserved only to a few privileged citizens as high -ranking officials, selected scientists and some state institutions, always under supervision.
But common North Koreans must settle for accessing Kwangmyong, brilliant in Spanish, which is the national intranet started in 2000 and is isolated from the global Internet. It includes a few thousands of web pages approved by the Government (educational, scientific, propaganda, etc.). Does not allow access to Googlesocial networks, international media or foreign websites, incorporates email services, news groups and has its North Korean search engine.
The BBC Recently Got A Hold of a Phone That Was Smuggled Out of North Korea. The North Korean Regime Auto-Corrects Popular Korean Terms and Takes A Screenshot of the Phone Every 5 minute. pic.twitter.com/8knpyrds9v
– non Aesthetic Things (@Parturesfoider) May 31, 2025
Screen captures every 5 minutes
The terminal performs captures of what is on the user screen every 5 minutes. These are stored in A hidden folder that has no access, but the governmentaccording to the BBC. Logically, with a dictatorship that is constantly spying on you, anyone dares to do with his phone something that Kim Jong-un does.
Instant censorship
Another surprising aspect is the instant censorship when writing words that are not pleasure in the regimefor example, those that are popular in South Korea. When writing in a messaging application ‘OPPA’word that in South Korea is used both to refer to both brothers and, in slang, a couple, the smartphone changes it to ‘comrade’ When the Enter key is pressed. Not only that, but a notification is shown indicating what is the meaning that should be given to OPPA, according to the regime.
If writing ‘South Korea’automatically change to ‘puppet state’which apparently is the way of referring to his neighbor who pleases Kim Jong-un.