EXPLORE SBX CARS<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 Supercar auctions starting soon powered by Supercar Blondie<\/p>\n What did this YouTuber discover with these illegal North Korean smartphones?<\/p>\n North Korea has been a topic of fascination for years.<\/p>\n As the country is closed off to the rest of the world, thanks to the edicts of its leader, a lot about life there remains a mystery to the rest of us.<\/p>\n Glimpses of North Korean everyday life \u2013 like this fake Mercedes, the Pyongyang 4.10<\/a> \u2013 have only exacerbated the curiosity.<\/p>\n Case in point \u2013 these illegal North Korean smartphones that one YouTuber got his hands on.<\/p>\n Now, smartphones are constantly being talked about, whether it\u2019s Android updates or iOS features that make Google Pixel users jealous<\/a>.<\/p>\n But things are different with North Korean smartphones.<\/p>\n These smartphones were intended for internal use in North Korea and not to be used outside of the country\u2019s borders.<\/p>\n At first glance, these may look like standard phones that would be used throughout the world.<\/p>\n But upon closer inspection, they reveal the extent of government oversight in their creation.<\/p>\n For example, Mrwhosetheboss attempted to type \u2018South Korea\u2019 (Namhan) into the keyboards of both phones, but it would autocorrect to \u2018Puppet State\u2019.<\/p>\n Even terms like \u2018Joseon\u2019 \u2013 meaning Korea \u2013 are politicized, as North Korea gets the distinction of being called \u2018Joseon\u2019, whilst South Korea is autocorrected to \u2018South Joseon\u2019.<\/p>\n Slang isn\u2019t safe either \u2013 a term like \u2018Oppa\u2019, which is used to mean \u2018boyfriend,\u2019 was changed into \u2018Comrade\u2019.<\/p>\n Taking a closer look at these phones<\/p>\n The phones themselves are of a lesser quality, which isn\u2019t too surprising in a market where there\u2019s not much competition.<\/p>\n The Samtaesong 8, for example. bears a lot of resemblance to a mid-range Huawei phone, but it was described as having weak cameras and outdated software.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything about using both of these phones feels so dated,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not possible to access the internet on these phones; only a controlled network called \u2018Mirae\u2019, which requires a government ID to access.<\/p>\n Even then, all a user of this phone would be able to access would be state TV, news, propaganda, and apps.<\/p>\n As if all of that wasn\u2019t off-putting enough, the app runs at speeds of between 2Mbps and 33Mbps.<\/p>\n By way of comparison, that\u2019s less than a fourteenth of what South Korean citizens can access on public Wi-Fi networks.<\/p>\n Practically every layer of these phones is infiltrated with a clear message \u2013 North Korea is superior, South Korea is inferior, foreign influence is dangerous, and citizens are subject to monitoring.<\/p>\n Perhaps most alarming of all is the fact that the phones will take frequent screenshots that the users themselves cannot delete or even view.<\/p>\n This is likely for purposes of inspection by the authorities, as activities like sharing foreign films and TV shows carry severe consequences, BBC News reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDISCOVER SBX CARS: \n\t\t\t\t\t\t# Tags –![\"Man](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/North-Korean-smartphones-5-1024x547.webp.webp\")
<\/a>Mrwhosetheboss<\/p>\n![\"Man](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/North-Korean-smartphones-3.webp.webp\")
<\/a>Mrwhosetheboss<\/p>\n![\"Man](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/North-Korean-smartphones-4-1024x572.webp.webp\")
<\/a>Mrwhosetheboss<\/p>\n![\"Man](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/North-Korean-smartphones-2-1024x790.webp.webp\")
<\/a>Mrwhosetheboss<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe global premium car auction platform powered by Supercar Blondie
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\nSmartphones<\/a>, Tech<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This YouTuber got his hands on two illegal North Korean smartphones, which had been smuggled out of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[165,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-313424","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-mobile","9":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}