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A NUMBER OF TACTICS ARE EMPLOYED BY THE COMMUNIST STATE TO TRY AND INDOCTRINATE THE PUBLIC, INCLUDING TAKING SECRET SCREENSHOTS AND AUTO-CORRECTING CERTAIN WORDS 18:05, 02 Jun 2025Updated

19:03, 02 Jun 2025 A smartphone smuggled out from North Korea has exposed the disturbing methods used by leader Kim Jong Un to control the country's population. The seemingly normal

phone attempts to curb any use of South Korean slang words and even takes an undetected screenshot every five minutes. These images are then stored in a secret folder inaccessible to the

user - but presumed to be seen by the Communist government. When trying to type the word “oppa" - which translates as "older brother" in Korean but means "boyfriend"

in modern South Korean lingo - it auto-corrects to “comrade.” A message then flashes up and warns that “oppa” could only be used for older siblings. Elsewhere, the word “South Korea” was

astonishingly auto-corrected to read “puppet state". The phone was smuggled out by Daily NK, a Seoul-based media organisation, last year and reported as part of a BBC investigation.

Martyn Williams, an expert in North Korean technology and information, told the British outlet that such devices are now being used to influence the North Korean public. "Smartphones

are now part and parcel of the way North Korea tries to indoctrinate people," he said. Article continues below The Washington, DC-based Stimson Center senior fellow also warned that the

notoriously secretive country is starting to gain the upper hand” in the information war. in 2023, Kim tightened his iron grip on the country by making South Korean phrases or speaking in a

South Korean accent a state crime. While 'youth crackdown squads' are seen prowling the streets to keep an eye on young North Koreans. Dissident Kang Gyuri, 24, recalled how she

would suddenly be stopped on the street and told off for dressing and styling her hair like a South Korean. Luckily, she was able to escape the nightmarish regime and by boat in 2023 and now

lives in South Korea. She also told the BBC how the state's enforcers would confiscate her phone and check through her messages for any illegal South Korean terms. Outside culture -

from TV to newspapers and music - is banned in the North. Because of this, thousands of USB sticks and micro-SD cards containing South Korean dramas and K-pop songs are smuggled over the

border every month hidden inside fruit boxes, according to the investigation. Kang said that it was her eventual exposure to a world beyond her home country that made her want to escape. She

said: “I felt so suffocated, and I suddenly had an urge to leave. “I used to think it was normal that the state restricted us so much. I thought other countries lived with this control. But

then I realised it was only in North Korea. Article continues below FOR THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS AND STORIES FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE FROM THE DAILY STAR, SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTERS.