DailyNK, a South Korean news site focusing on North Korean activities, recently reported based on its own sources in North Korean that the North Korean authorities have stepped up their crackdowns on people using Chinese mobile phones. The purpose is to cut off communication with outside world and to “improve internal control.”
The latest example occurred in Musan County of North Hamgyong province, where a resident was discovered by the Detection Bureau of the Ministry of Security less than 1 minute after he started a phone call to China. He was arrested at the scene.
Recently, personnel from the Radio Detection Bureau have increased the time they spend patrolling the Chinese-North Korean border to 10 hours a day, scanning for Chinese mobile phone signals near residential buildings. The DailyNK source said “it is impossible to completely prevent the use of Chinese mobile phones, as people who use Chinese mobile phones risk their lives to do things prohibited by the state in order to survive, so no matter how hard the state cracks down, they will still use Chinese mobile phones.”
Source: DailyNK Chinese, January 3, 2025
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