North Korea Boosts Telecom Surveillance to Isolate Citizens
- The sound of static during a call said to be sign of spying
- Calls to 'enemy' countries considered treason, Amnesty says
Pyongyang Metro in North Korea.
Photographer: Eric Lafforgue via Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
North Koreans caught using mobile phones to call families abroad risk being sent to political prison camps under an increasingly iron-fisted regime that is jamming devices and stepping up surveillance, according to a report from Amnesty International.
Government efforts to keep North Koreans from learning about the outside world and to obscure awareness of human rights violations in the country coincide with the rise of gray markets, where citizens procure everything from food and clothing to SIM cards and DVDs, Amnesty International said in a report “Connection Denied: Restrictions on Mobile Phones and Outside Information in North Korea.”