How North Korea’s Kim Jong Un keeps a close vigil? ‘Mobile screenshot every 5 min,’ auto-corrects content and more

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un administration continues to be in the limelight for its overtly controlling practices. Fresh evidence of Orwellian practices has emerged after a phone smuggled out of North Korea revealed chilling details about how the secretive dictatorship is exercising control over its people.

To suppress cultural influence from South Korea and any potential uprising, the North Korean regime is a step ahead and is using modern technology for its draconian clampdown. BBC recently analysed a smartphone smuggled out of North Korea last year. All of these devices do not have access to internet. North Korean government uses language auto corrector to censor common South Korean slangs.

The term “South Korea” is auto-corrected to read “puppet state,” while “oppa,” which refer to a boyfriend in South Korea, is replaced with the word “comrade” which is more communist-friendly alternative, BBC investigation discovered.

South Korea’s disturbing clampdown on smartphones

The most chilling revelations that have surfaced are that of “screenshots every five minutes.” In the video, BBC correspondent assessed the smuggled gadget physically, she can be heard saying, “The phone is taking screenshot every five minutes or so, but the user can’t open these files, only the authorities can so they can see what people are looking at or sharing things they are not supposed to.”

This shows how North Korea’s totalitarian regime is harnessing technology to eliminate influence from the outside world and isolate its citizens to continue its authoritarian rule.

“Smartphones are now part and parcel of the way North Korea tries to indoctrinate people,” BBC quoted expert in North Korean technology and information, Martyn Williams, as saying.

The extent of control can be assessed by the censorship on South Korean TV dramas, outside newspapers and TV channels and ban on use of South Korean phrases or South Korean accent which equates to a state crime. Even styling hair and dressing like a South Korean can attract disciplinary action.