These phones track users step-by-step: They take a screenshot every 5 minutes

North Korea's domestically produced phones record their users' screens every five minutes and send them to the state.

Only state officials can access these screenshots; it is impossible for users to see or delete these images.

A BBC investigation of a North Korean phone smuggled across the Chinese border has revealed the extent of digital oppression in the country.

The phones are not limited to surveillance; they also impose censorship on content. For example, the word 'oppa,' which is commonly used in South Korea, is automatically changed to 'comrade,' and the user is warned that this word can only be used for siblings.

Similarly, the phrase 'South Korea' is corrected to 'puppet state.' Such automatic corrections prevent users from accessing anti-regime discourse.

North Korean citizens cannot access the global internet. Instead, they use a local network called Kwangmyong, which contains only content approved by the regime.

It is impossible to access social media or independent news sources on this network. Martyn Williams, a researcher at the Stimson Center, states that this oppression stems from the regime's fear of its own mythology being questioned.

He states that most of the myths created around the Kim family are untrue and that questioning is therefore not permitted.