Latest news with #Kwangmyong
Indian Express
3 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
‘Oppa' becomes ‘comrade' & screenshots every 5 minutes: What phone smuggled out of North Korea reveals
A video investigation by the BBC has shown how smartphones in North Korea are tightly controlled by the state, leaving no room for private use or access to outside information. The phone analysed by the BBC was smuggled out of North Korea in late 2024. It runs on a modified version of Android that blocks internet access completely and only allows users to connect to a local intranet called Kwangmyong. This network only hosts information approved by the North Korean government. 🇰🇵 A phone belonging to a North Korean citizen was seized. – When typing 'South Korea' on the keyboard, it changes to 'Puppet State.' – Every 5 minutes, a screenshot is taken and sent to the government. — Foster 🦅🇳🇬🏴 (@F_JONHSON) June 1, 2025 Experts who studied the device say that it automatically rewrites text to match government language. For example, if someone types 'South Korea,' the phone changes it to 'puppet state,' which is North Korea's official term for its neighbour. Similarly, typing 'oppa'—a common South Korean word for an older brother or boyfriend—brings up a warning. The phone tells users: 'This word can only be used to describe your siblings.' It then replaces the word with 'comrade.' One of the more serious findings is that the phone secretly takes a screenshot every five minutes. These images are saved in a hidden folder that users cannot see, but which the authorities can access. Any attempt to modify the phone or use it to access outside content is treated as a crime. The BBC report highlights how the North Korean government uses such technology to promote its political beliefs and control how people communicate. A tech analyst in the report said, 'It's not just about blocking the internet. It's about rewriting the way people think and speak.' North Korea and South Korea have remained hostile since the Korean War ended in 1953 with no peace treaty. Pyongyang continues to view the South as a breakaway region and maintains strict control over any information that might challenge that view.
NDTV
3 days ago
- Politics
- NDTV
Smuggled North Korean Phone Reveals Extreme Censorship, Surveillance: "Screenshot Every 5 Min"
A smartphone smuggled out of North Korea has revealed fresh insights into the extent of censorship and surveillance that the Kim Jong Un regime oversees in the hermit nation. The device, obtained by BBC in late 2024 via defector networks or underground routes, and analysed by tech experts, showed that nearly all smartphones run a modified version of Android. These devices are embedded with tools that aim to enforce the state's ideology, perpetuate the hate campaign against neighbouring South Korea and monitor every movement made by its citizens in the online sphere. Akin to the way North Korea operates as a country in seclusion, internet access is completely blocked on the phone. Instead, the users are restricted to a closed intranet system known as Kwangmyong, which hosts only state-approved content and offers no connection to the outside world. One of the most disturbing aspects of the phone is its automatic rewriting of content. For instance, the word 'oppa' -- widely used in South Korean popular culture to refer to boyfriends is automatically corrected to 'comrade' on North Korean smartphones. A warning is also issued when the word is used, stating: 'This word can only be used to describe your siblings.' Similarly, typing 'South Korea' in the phone results in the phrase being automatically changed to "puppet state" -- North Korea's official name for the South. 🇰🇵 A phone belonging to a North Korean citizen was seized. - When typing 'South Korea' on the keyboard, it changes to 'Puppet State.' - Every 5 minutes, a screenshot is taken and sent to the government. — Foster 🦅🇳🇬🏴 (@F_JONHSON) June 1, 2025 The investigation also revealed that a screenshot of the phone screen is taken every five minutes and stored in a hidden folder that is inaccessible to users but available to state authorities for surveillance purposes. Altering these devices to access external content is considered a serious criminal offence. The hostilities between North and South Korea have been widely reported. For decades, Pyongyang has demanded that the South cede its sovereignty to it. The three-year Korean War, which started when communist North Korea invaded South Korea, ended in an armistice in 1953 without a peace treaty ever being signed.
Mint
4 days ago
- Politics
- Mint
Type ‘South Korea'? The phone calls it a ‘Puppet State' — Inside North Korea's shocking surveillance
A smartphone smuggled out of North Korea has uncovered shocking evidence of the regime's extreme surveillance tactics and linguistic manipulation, shedding light on how Kim Jong-un's government continues to tighten its grip over the country's population. The device, obtained by the BBC in late 2024 and analysed by tech experts, reveals that North Korean smartphones—running a heavily modified version of Android—are embedded with tools specifically designed to enforce state ideology, censor foreign influence, and monitor citizens' every digital move. One of the most disturbing features is the phone's automatic rewriting of certain terms. Typing 'South Korea' into the phone replaces it with 'puppet state,' a derogatory term used in North Korean propaganda. Similarly, the word 'oppa,' a common South Korean expression for an older brother or boyfriend, is forcibly changed to 'comrade,' accompanied by a warning: 'This word can only be used to describe your siblings.' These changes reflect North Korea's broader policy of linguistic control—redefining language itself to shape perception and loyalty. The phone is also equipped with hidden surveillance functions. It silently takes screenshots every five minutes and stores them in a hidden folder that is inaccessible to users but available to state authorities. This, as stated by a reporter for the BBC, allows officials to monitor individual behavior in real-time and maintain complete control over what citizens are doing on their devices. Internet access is entirely blocked. Instead, North Korean users are restricted to a closed intranet system known as Kwangmyong, which hosts only state-approved content and offers no connection to the outside world. The phone's escape from North Korea—believed to have been smuggled across the Chinese border via defector networks or underground routes—offers a rare window into one of the world's most secretive and tightly controlled regimes. North Korea's information lockdown is among the most comprehensive in the world. Citizens are systematically cut off from foreign news, media, and culture, particularly from South Korea, which is officially considered an enemy state. The smartphone's software plays a key role in this digital iron curtain—subverting words, spying on users, and shaping minds in service of the regime. As North Korea escalates its 'information war' against outside influence, the smuggled phone stands as stark evidence of a society where even casual conversation is controlled.
Korea Herald
23-02-2025
- Korea Herald
North Korea shows signs of ramping up ChatGPT use
Concerns grow over North Korea's advance in use of AI in fraud, scams North Korea is showing signs of incorporating ChatGPT in its operations, adding to concerns that artificial intelligence technology could be used to advance the reclusive regime's cybercrimes. Pyongyang was seen educating its intellectuals about ChatGPT, a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by a US AI research organization OpenAI, in a video released by a North Korean external propaganda outlet Saturday. Members of an AI research institute at Kim Il Sung University, North Korea's top university, were seen using a program titled 'GPT-4 Real Case: Writing' on their computers, in a report by Voice of Korea. The program focused on teaching how ChatGPT produces text based on user input. Han Chol-jin, a researcher at the institute, told the outlet that they were 'teaching methods to deeply learn an advanced technology and ways to make it our own.' As internet access is generally unavailable in North Korea, with some citizens only having access to the country's national intranet called Kwangmyong, it is unknown whether the researchers had access to the actual ChatGPT site. The Voice of Korea report closely followed OpenAI's decision to ban user accounts from North Korea. The ChatGPT maker claimed that several North Korean-linked accounts misused the chatbot program to create fake resumes, online job profiles and cover letters as part of the regime's widely reported employment scheme. "The activity we observed is consistent with the tactics, techniques and procedures Microsoft and Google attributed to an IT worker scheme potentially connected to North Korea," OpenAI said in a recent report. "While we cannot determine the locations or nationalities of the actors, the activity we disrupted shared characteristics publicly reported in relation to North Korean state efforts to funnel income through deceptive hiring schemes, where individuals fraudulently obtain positions at Western companies to support the regime's financial network," it added. Pyongyang has been accused of running employment hiring schemes in which North Korean IT workers use false identities to get hired and work remotely for US companies. The workers would then funnel their wages to support the development of their country's nuclear weapons program. In January, Google's Threat Intelligence Group, an intel squad within the US-based tech company, revealed that North Korean hackers were using Google's Gemini chatbot to illegally gain access to information on the South Korean military and cryptocurrency. Experts expressed concerns about a spike in crypto thefts and other malicious cyber activities by North Korean hackers with their increased use of AI technology. 'With the use of generative AI, North Korea now faces a lower language barrier (when committing crimes) and significantly less money when plotting and carrying out schemes,' Kim Seung-joo, a professor at Korea University's School of Cybersecurity said. North Korean hackers stole some $659 million worth of crypto assets in a series of multiple hacks throughout 2024, according to a joint statement released by the governments of South Korea, the US and Japan last month.
