One of the cell phones allegedly brought from North Korea and shown by YouTuber MrWhosetheboss
Constant and impossible-to-delete automatic printouts, fake translations, Android copies. This is how the few cell phones that leave North Korea are.
It’s not just control: it’s also indoctrination. A video published by the YouTube channel MrWhosetheboss recently showed what would be cell phones originating in North Korea. The devices allegedly run modified versions of Android, with a series of limitations and censorship in different applications.
The device, supposedly called “Samtaesung 8”would work without access to the global Internet. Instead, the connection is limited to a closed intranet that contains only government-approved sites.
Most common applications, such as the browser, calendar and maps, are adapted versions. There is no authorization to download programs freely: downloading will require in-person visits to physical stores and specific government authorization.
The content available for consumption would include approved games, Russian and Indian films, biographies of leaders and pirated or edited international media.
Measures were also identified to block South Korean cultural influenceas had already been shown in previous content. This happens, for example, through the modification of written words.
When writing “Namhan” (South Korea), the term would be changed to “puppet state”. When inserting “Oppa”, which means “older brother” in Korean, but which in South Korea is also used in the sense of “boyfriend”, the word is replaced by “Comrade”, according to the BBC found in May — and, at the same time, a warning is shown: “This word can only be used to describe your brothers”.
It was also mentioned that files and photographs have government digital signatures, and any foreign content without a signature would be deleted.
Sources also indicate that cell phones do automatic screenshots every five minutes or whenever an application is opened. These images would be stored in restricted folders, which the common user cannot access or delete, and only authorities would have access to the files to check whether prohibited content was consumed or shared.
