As the North Korean government tightens controls on the use of the South Korean dialect, it is becoming more common for North Koreans to be fined during random inspections of their cell phones.
Multiple sources on the ground told Daily NK on Tuesday that young pedestrians are often forced to hand over their phones for inspection as the government attempts to stamp out the use of South Korean words and phrases. These phone inspections often result in fines.
“On July 17, a young man in his 20s was walking home after a day’s work at a factory in Kyongwon County when he was subjected to a phone inspection by another young man who identified himself as a member of the non-socialist behavior task force of the Kyongwon Party Committee,” said a source in North Hamgyong Province.
The young factory worker willingly handed over his cell phone when the other man said he was a member of the non-socialist behavior team, but the inspection revealed the use of a typical South Korean verb that ends in a text message saying “I’ll be there at 9 o’clock. The young factory worker had to pay a fine of KPW 100,000 and promise to stop using South Korean expressions before his cell phone was returned to him,” the source said.
Another such account came from a source in Yanggang Province. “On July 14, a teacher in her twenties in Hyesan was walking down the street to meet a friend when her cell phone was inspected by a middle-aged man who claimed to be an agent of the local people’s committee,” the source said.
A text message on the woman’s phone said, “I was chewed out by the principal yesterday. It was really humiliating.” Her phone was confiscated for using a South Korean phrase for “humiliating,” and the phone was not returned until she paid a fine of KPW 200,000.
“The woman was surprised that people’s committee officials were conducting phone inspections on Sunday,” the source said.
Officials use crackdowns to extract bribes
Because of these incidents, North Koreans are frustrated that party and government officials are using cell phone inspections as a way to line their pockets.
Sources said that since very few of those caught in the inspections are actually reported to businesses or neighborhood watch units, the inspectors are making considerable money from people’s use of the South Korean dialect.
Since senior officials have no way of knowing how many people inspectors actually catch, inspectors could easily fine ten people and report only one, allowing them to pocket a substantial portion of the fines.
North Korea’s Pyongyang Cultural Language Protection Act, enacted last year, requires North Koreans to install a program on their cell phones, computers, and other electronic devices to filter out the use of South Korean dialect. When the program is installed on an electronic device, South Korean words and phrases are automatically deleted or replaced with North Korean equivalents.
But most North Koreans use old cell phones that do not support the program, the source explained. The program apparently takes up too much memory to be installed on older phones.
“If your phone is equipped with the South Korean dialect filter, you don’t have to worry about what you write in your text messages because they are automatically converted to standard North Korean dialect. People with older phones can get in trouble for their text messages, but that’s not a problem with the latest phones, which are required to have the dialect filter on them,” said a source in North Hamgyong Province.
As a result, North Koreans would like to upgrade to a new phone with the dialect filter so they can avoid being charged hundreds of thousands of won for a single word, the source said, but the high price of the new phones is beyond many people’s budgets.
Daily NK works with a network of sources living in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous for security reasons.
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