North Korea is testing a new secure communication device featuring signal altering capabilities at the Fourth Corps, a military unit stationed along the border with South Korea, Daily NK has learned.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source in the North Korean military, told Daily NK last Tuesday that “staff from the General Staff Department, Communication Bureau and Academy of National Defense Science’s Communication Equipment Research Center have been at the Fourth Corps since July 10, running test communications to field deploy the domestically developed ‘1030’ secure communication device.”
Secure communication devices are wireless devices that encrypt transmission signals to make messages indecipherable to snoopers.
When North Korea developed its 1018 and 1028 secure communication devices in the early 2000s and 2020, respectively, it first deployed them with the Fourth Corps. Later the devices were provided to the First, Second and Fifth Corps.
According to the source, the 1030 device presently undergoing testing with the Fourth Corps has better frequency hopping capabilities to alter transmission signals than the 1018 or 1028.
“The 1030 secure communication device simplified the technology for converting and encrypting voice and data signals from existing devices. Beyond that, it ensures multifunctional fixed and mobile communication,” the source said.
After a test period of two months, the General Staff Department plans to fully deploy the 1030 secure communication device for use in the major communication networks at the Fourth Corps’ headquarters. These networks include the mobile network with the Supreme Command, the daily command network with the General Staff Department, and the command network with the corps’ staff department.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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