From 'oppa' to 'comrade': North Korea's phones auto-correct to fit party line

Everything South Korean is banned in Kim Jong Un’s North Korea, a country that enforces strict censorship across all forms of media to shield its citizens from the realities of the outside world. A mobile phone smuggled out of the country has now revealed fresh insights into how one of the world’s most extreme censorship regimes operates.

The surveillance and censorship methods range from autocorrection of certain South Korean words to routine data sharing with authorities, all while denying users access to the internet, according to a BBC report.

For instance, the word 'Oppa', which is widely used in South Korean popular culture to refer to boyfriends (though it literally means older brother), is automatically corrected to ‘Comrade’ on North Korean smartphones.

Additionally, a warning displayed just below the keyboard further instructs users that “this word can only be used to refer to siblings”.

Similarly, if someone tries to type ‘South Korea,’ the phone automatically changes it to ‘Puppet State’, a term North Korean authorities use to describe the South, claiming it is under US control.

The phone takes screenshots every five minutes and stores them in a specific folder that is inaccessible to users. Only authorities have access to this folder, allowing them to monitor user activity in detail.

From radios to smartphones, communication devices in North Korea are pre-configured to receive only state propaganda and are sealed to prevent tampering. Altering these devices to access external content is considered a serious criminal offence. For ordinary citizens, access to the global internet is virtually nonexistent.

According to a recent report that included testimonies from 649 North Korean defectors, the regime under Kim Jong Un has intensified its crackdown on “Western influence” and the flow of outside information. Officials are said to routinely inspect mobile phones for contact names, language, and slang that suggest exposure to South Korean culture.

Kim has also banned K-pop and K-dramas, South Korean music and television dramas that have gained global popularity, as part of efforts to curb foreign cultural influence.

A human rights report by South Korea’s Unification Ministry earlier revealed that North Korean authorities publicly executed a 22-year-old man for listening to and sharing K-pop music and films, underscoring Pyongyang’s brutal crackdown on foreign cultural influence.