North Korean authorities recently instructed all mobile phone users and registered computer owners to update their software while ordering all IT-related organizations to submit reviews of their activities over the past two years.
According to a Daily NK source in Pyongyang on Friday, the Bureau of Publication Inspection and Bureau of Broadcast Supervision issued a joint order on July 2 that spelled out measures for technological and administrative inspections in the IT sector aimed at “eliminating” the use of mobile phones and computers for unauthorized purposes.
In Pyongyang, the authorities immediately handed down the order to everyone working in the country’s IT industry, including those affiliated with information and service centers, post offices, computer repair and sales organizations, and agencies specializing in computer programing and app development for mobile phones.
Moreover, workplace political organizations conveyed the gist of the order to all mobile phone users and computer owners.
Daily NK’s source said the order pertains to supplementary provisions to North Korea’s Mobile Communications Act on Technological Administration, amended in late May of last year. The order has put in motion the first inspection by the two bureaus ever since the law mandated that mobile phone users visit a service center or other organization to update their software once every six months, rather than just once a year.
Specifically, the order called for:
- Mobile phone users and registered computer owners to complete inspections of their devices by the end of August to ensure their software has been updated.
- Inspections to ensure that device users have installed programs to block “impure publications and propaganda materials.”
- That the IT sector, including information centers, service centers, sales centers and repair centers, submit organization-wide reviews for the last two years.
- Reports on and the self-surrender of individuals who have developed and commercialized illegal mobile phone technology.
The source said the order called on mobile phone users and registered computer users to “visit, without fail, a nearby service center or Ministry of State Security office by the end of August” to obtain a stamp verifying that they have updated their software. Moreover, the order called on workers in the IT sector to submit reviews of their “technological administration activities” over the last two years since the Eighth Party Congress.
Inside North Korea, the order has sparked concern that the authorities are trying to ascertain how people are using their phones by inspecting their devices.
“People are saying that the ‘upgrade’ is just an excuse to have the state manage what people are doing even more closely by examining their private lives through regular inspections of browsing histories,” the source said.
Meanwhile, some North Koreans say the order for IT workers to submit reviews of their activities over the past two years represents a “warning.”
Outwardly, the order aims to ensure IT-related workers have properly filed reports with the Bureau of Publication Inspection or Bureau of Broadcast Supervision on managing the mobile phone browsing histories of users or illegal activity.
In reality, however, some people claim that the order signals that the authorities have begun efforts to uncover software experts who develop, install or illegally sell programs that circumvent North Korea’s controls and surveillance, and that the authorities will crack down hard on nationwide distribution of such software.
All North Korean phones have an app called “TraceViewer,” which allows the government to see what document or video files users have watched on their phones.
Some North Koreans have used circumvention programs to get around the app to open illegal files. The source explained that the government believes that IT experts are involved in developing and selling the programs and has thus moved to crackdown on their activities.
“The state tries to monitor [people’s digital activities] using browsing history apps, but circumvention programs keep appearing and people keep trafficking them,” said the source. “The leadership believes that IT workers cultivated by the government make all these programs, and intend to eradicate [the software at the source].
“Despite the fact the unified command on non-socialist and anti-socialist behavior is already quite active, the joint order was issued because [the government believes] reactionary thought and culture is being spread most prominently through electronic devices,” he continued, adding, “Taking the lead in [allowing the the spread of reactionary thought and culture] are young IT experts who have been cultivated by the party.”
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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