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‘Screenshot every 5 min', no ’oppa': Smuggled phone gives chilling glimpse of North Korea regime
The device shows that Kim Jong Un's regime is not only banning foreign media like South Korean TV dramas, but is also using tech to police the very language.
A phone smuggled out of North Korea last year has uncovered fresh evidence of the lengths Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un's regime is going to for censoring information from outside the country and suppressing cultural influence from South Korea.
The device, obtained in 2024 and recently analysed by the BBC, shows that Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un’s government is not only banning foreign media like South Korean TV dramas, but is also using technology to police the very language North Koreans use.
While phones in North Korea do not have access to the internet, South Korean shows and entertainment are still being covertly smuggled across the border—aimed at revealing the freedoms and prosperity of life in the neighbouring country. In response, the regime has intensified its crackdown.
Not just this, footage from the smuggled phone demonstrates how the North Korean government also automatically censors common South Korean slang.
For instance, when users type “oppa”—a popular South Korean term used by women to refer to their boyfriends or older brothers—the phone changes it to “comrade” and issues a warning: “This word can only be used to describe your siblings.”
Typing “South Korea” into the phone results in the phrase being automatically altered to “puppet state”—the regime’s official term for the South.
Screenshots every five minutes
Perhaps most troublingly, the phone smuggled out of North Korea was taking automatically taking screenshots every five minutes, without the user’s knowledge.
These image files are hidden from the user but accessible to authorities only, giving them a powerful surveillance tool to monitor behavior and punish those consuming banned content.
The revelations offer a rare and chilling glimpse into how North Korea’s authoritarian regime is using technology not only to isolate its citizens from the outside world, but also to shape the very way they think and speak.
Kim Jong Un's regime is known to be one of the most secretive and repressive in the world, marked by absolute control over nearly every aspect of life in North Korea.
Since taking power in 2011, Kim Jong Un has maintained an iron grip through widespread surveillance, harsh punishments for dissent, and a strict ban on outside information.
The regime favours ideological loyalty and uses state propaganda to glorify Kim Jong Un while demonising foreign influence, especially from South Korea and the West.
