BBC Learning English - Learning English from the News / North Korean secrets revealed by phone
()
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
The story
The BBC has gained access to a North Korean phone which has been smuggled out of the country.
The phone doesn't have access to the internet and is designed to make sure its users follow the rules in North Korea, which is closely controlled by its leader Kim Jong-un.
The phone creates a screenshot every five minutes, which is used by the country's authorities to watch the user.
The phone also has an autocorrect function which changes terms used in South Korea to expressions favoued by the North Korean regime.
News headlines
Smartphone smuggled out of North Korea shows chilling details implemented by Kim Jong-un's regime
LADbible
From 'oppa' to comrade: North Korea's phones auto-correct to fit party line
India Today
This smartphone smuggled out of North Korea is absolutely wild
Futurism
Key words and phrases
chilling
frightening
I read a chilling story about a ghost and now I can't sleep.
party line
the official opinion of an organisation, usually political
The mayor didn't say anything new in her speech. Just the usual party line.
wild
strange or unexpected
This TV show is wild. I have no idea what's going to happen next.
Next
Learn more English vocabulary from the news with our News Review archive.
Try our podcast The English We Speak to learn more idiomatic language.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
26 minutes ago
- The Sun
Japan's moon lander ‘crashes AGAIN' in second botched mission as spaceship goes silent just moments before touchdown
A JAPANESE spacecraft attempting a touchdown on the moon has crashed into the surface, the space company said. The unmanned Resilience Moon Lander, from private Japanese astro company ispace, has been declared a failure for a second time. 2 2 Friday's flop follows the failure of the company's first attempt at a moon landing in 2023. Resilience had difficulty measuring the distance between itself and the moon, its makers said, so it careered into the surface going too fast. Following the disappointment, CFO Jumpei Nozaki said: "We're not facing any immediate financial deterioration or distress because of the event." Ispace will now have to wait years before taking another shot at a lunar landing. However, the country remains committed to the mission - and a number of private companies there are looking at moon exploration as a business opportunity. Tokyo-based ispace had hoped to join US firms Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace in making successful commercial moon landings. It comes amid a global race that includes state-run lunar missions from China and India. .
South Wales Argus
2 hours ago
- South Wales Argus
‘Vast Majority' of new homes will have solar panels, says Miliband
It comes a month after Downing Street confirmed the panels should be installed on as many new properties as possible amid speculation that ministers will make them a mandatory requirement on new builds by 2027. Speaking to the BBC, Mr Miliband described the proposed policy as 'just common sense' and said the panels should be 'almost universal' on English homes. Changes to regulations will be laid out in the Future Homes Standard, due to be published later this year. The previous Conservative Government considered a proposal that would have mandated rooftop solar panels to cover 40% of a building's ground area or equivalent. Ed Miliband says solar panels should be 'almost universal' on English homes. 'The problem about the previous system was that it said you would had to have a certain percentage of coverage of solar panels, but if you couldn't achieve that percentage, you didn't have to do anything at all,' Mr Miliband said. 'Under our plans, we are not going to say that. We are going to say even if you can't hit 40% you will still have to have some solar panels, except in rare, exceptional cases.' He added that the number of homes fitted with solar panels needed to be 'much higher'. The policy is estimated to add between £3,000 and £4,000 to the cost of construction, but to then save owners more than £1,000 on their annual energy bills, according to the Times, which first reported the change. Asked in May whether housebuilders would be legally required to fit the panels, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's official spokesman said: 'Of course we want to see solar panels on as many new homes as possible. 'The Future Homes Standard, which will be published in the coming months, will include measures to drive this, we're working on the detail of that and will provide an update on that in due course. 'But it's good news for householders who want lower energy bills.' Under the Government's new proposals, 80% of new builds would reportedly be required to have solar panels covering 40% of their ground area, while 19% would have slightly fewer because of exemptions, including roof pitch and overshading. Ministers last year rejected a private members' Bill aiming to force housebuilders to install solar panels on the roof of every new home, saying the proposals would potentially slow down construction and add to building costs. Labour's manifesto included a pledge to build 1.5 million new homes over the course of the Parliament.
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
China's exports likely slowed in May amid trade uncertainties
BEIJING, June 6 (Reuters) - Growth in China's exports likely slowed in May despite a lowering of U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, as the fallout from the still-unresolved trade war and uncertainties in Sino-U.S. ties weighed on shipments. Outbound shipments are projected to have risen 5.0% year-on-year in value terms last month, according to the median forecasts of 20 economists polled by Reuters. That compares with an 8.1% jump in April. Imports are forecast to drop 0.9% in May from the previous year in value terms, widening from a 0.2% dip in April. The global trade war and the swings in China-U.S. trade ties have in the past two months sent Chinese exporters, along with their business partners across the Pacific, on a roller coaster ride. An hour-and-a-half-long phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping late Thursday kept the lid on tensions but left key trade issues such as Beijing's control on rare earth exports and Washington's curbs on chip-related exports to further talks. In mid-May, China and the United States struck a 90-day truce in their bruising tariff war and walked back most of the triple-digit levies they heaped on each other's goods, which had taken effect in early April. Those tariffs, as well as uncertainties surrounding the global trade order after the Trump administration ordered a 90-day pause to its "reciprocal tariffs" on other trade partners, had accelerated China's exports in March and April, as factories rushed out shipments to the U.S. and overseas manufacturers. The lowering of U.S. tariffs on China, however temporary, was welcome news to China's policymakers as they seek to shore up an economy reliant on exports and beset by lacklustre domestic demand and sagging prices. Economists polled by Reuters appear divided on how the turnabout from the Geneva trade talks would impact China's overall exports last month, with estimates ranging from a 9.3% growth to a 2.5% drop. The tariff truce might trigger a new round of frontloading and reduce the urgency for the Chinese government to "roll out a sizable stimulus package and start some necessary structural reforms", Nomura analysts wrote in a report on May 23. The Nomura analysts estimate that average U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports could remain "hefty at about 42%" even without further hikes, and expect China's export growth to slow down sharply in the second half of the year. China's first-quarter economic growth beat expectations, but any cheer was overridden by persistent strains in China-U.S. ties. Factory activity data for May shows Chinese manufacturers may have already felt the tariff pains. The official manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) shrank for a second month in May, while the gauge in a private-sector survey shrank for the first time in eight months. The central bank last month cut benchmark lending rates to lessen the impact of the trade war on the economy, and lowered the ceiling for deposit rates to offset margin pressure on banks and prompt savers to spend or invest more. China's May trade surplus is forecast at $101.3 billion, up from $96.18 billion in April.
