North Korea is tightening cell phone controls on overseas workers as more laborers in Russia use unauthorized devices to access foreign information or plan defections.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source in Russia told Daily NK last Wednesday that earlier this month, a state security agent, party secretary and personnel manager from a North Korean trading company in Primorsky Krai slipped into a dormitory at 1 AM and caught construction workers looking at their cell phones under the covers after lights out.
The officials made the workers, still in their nightclothes, stand in formation outside the dormitory while they searched the dormitory’s communal and personal belongings.
The workers were surprised by the nighttime dormitory inspection, as management had not recently conducted such random searches.
In Russia, used cell phones are sold on the street for about USD 50 and can be used to make calls and access the Internet by inserting a SIM card. Given the ease of purchase, most North Koreans working in Russia appear to have cell phones that they keep hidden from their managers.
Workers enjoy watching videos on YouTube when they can
The North Korean authorities are hardly unaware of these practices. Last month, new workers were warned several times during orientation not to use cell phones while in Russia.
“Construction work in Russia is very grueling, so most North Korean workers enjoy using an illegal cell phone to watch South Korean movies and dramas on YouTube under the covers at night,” the source said.
The overseas workers caught watching the news or YouTube videos on their cell phones were transferred a week later to a concrete-laying job, where they would have to work harder for less pay.