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Type ‘South Korea’? The Phone Calls It a ‘Puppet State’ — Inside North Korea’s Shocking Surveillance

  • In late 2024, a mobile device covertly brought out of North Korea exposed the country's extensive state surveillance and censorship measures embedded within its technology.
  • The regime intensified efforts to block South Korean cultural influence through youth squads, phone inspections, and banning K-pop and K-dramas.
  • The phone uses customized software to censor terms like 'South Korea' by replacing them with 'puppet state' and changes 'oppa' to 'comrade', reflecting official rhetoric.
  • It silently captures screenshots every five minutes, storing them in hidden folders accessible only to authorities, enabling detailed real-time monitoring of users.
  • This device exemplifies North Korea’s comprehensive information control, showing how the regime enforces strict ideological conformity and limits foreign influence digitally.
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They have managed to smuggle a smartphone out of North Korea, and what they have found inside shows the reality of a country oppressed by the state.

·Madrid, Spain
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Bias Distribution

  • 42% of the sources are Center, 42% of the sources lean Right
42% Right
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Firstpost News broke the news in Mumbai, India on Sunday, June 1, 2025.
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