North Koreans face labor camps to remove surveillance tools from phones

Kim Jong-un’s vice-like grip on North Korea includes special phones that cannot reach the outside world – but a new hack from China allows users to bypass state control completely

Kim Jong-un has threatened three weeks in a labor camp and conspicuous fines for North Korean citizens hacking their state-approved smartphones.

The leader announced new laws after a new hack appeared that allows people to remove state surveillance tools from Pyongyang’s copycat “iPhone” and provide access to sites from the outside world.

The phones currently only allow access to regime-approved websites and come with an app that monitors how the handset is used.

Each phone takes screenshots at random times and saves them in a folder from which they cannot be deleted.

But in a new report, two defectors who fled the country have described a method of hacking the phones.

An app that can provide root access to the phones has been smuggled into the country from China.

Root access lets a user control all aspects of the phone and its files – including state-of-the-art software removal, screen deletion, and global Internet access.

But the state has begun cracking down on this hack, threatening “at least three months of labor training” for those who illegally install a “mobile manipulation program.”

People who are discovered with “an unclean publication” or a “propaganda material blocking program” can be fined up to 100,000 North Korean won.

Although it is only equivalent to under £ 100, it is about 10 times the average salary in North Korea.

In the report on the new hack, published by Lumen, an organization that provides uncensored information to North Korea, and ERNW, an IT security firm, the authors wrote: “The extent of the hacking still seems to be smaller, but recent changes in North Korean law indicates that national authorities see it as a serious problem. “

One of the defectors estimated that 30% of his classmates had tried the new hack, but another said this only affected less than 10% of the general population.

One of them said that people have started offering a phone unlocking service for people who otherwise would not know how to.

Changing the number of screens on the phones can also make them more valuable.

A folder full of screenshots is a revealing sign of an older handset – as they cannot be deleted, older phones have built up more screenshots over time.

By using the new hack to delete the screenshots, users can give the phones out like newer and sell them at a higher price.

The hack appears to come from China, where the North Korean regime is sending some of its citizens to work on software.

It will be a blow to North Korea’s relentless propaganda machine.

Kim Jong-un’s recent efforts to upgrade his propaganda production have included him wearing a Top Gun-like leather jacket and a pair of sunglasses for a TV show in which he ordered his army to fire a missile.

Bloomberg reports that the recording was released just eight days after a failed ballistic missile launch in Pyongyang.

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