Headlines
  • False or misleading informations are spread by organizations posing as legitimate media outlets in an attempt to twist public opinion in favor of a certain ideology.
  • On social media,watch out for fake messages,pictures,Videos and news.
  • Always Check Independent Fact Checking Sites if You Have Some Doubts About the Authenticity of Any Information or Picture or video.
  • Check Google Images for AuthThe Google Reverse Images search can helps you.
  • It Would Be Better to Ignore Social Media Messages that are forwarded from Unknown or Little-Known Sources.
  • If a fake message asks you to share something, you can quickly recognize it as fake messege.
  • It is a heinous crime and punishable offence to post obscene, morphed images of women on social media networks, sometimes even in pornographic websites, as retaliation.
  • Deepfakes use artificial intelligence (AI)-driven deep learning software to manipulate preexisting photographs, videos, or audio recordings of a person to create new, fake images, videos, and audio recordings.
  • AI technology has the ability to manipulate media and swap out a genuine person's voice and likeness for similar counter parts.
  • Deepfake creators use this fake substance to spread misinformation and other illegal activities.Deepfakes are frequently used on social networking sites to elicit heated responses or defame opponents.
  • One can identify AI created fake videos by identifying abnormal eye movement, Unnatural facial expressions, a lack of feeling, awkward-looking hand,body or posture,unnatural physical movement or form, unnatural coloring, Unreal-looking hair,teeth that don't appear natural, Blurring, inconsistent audio or noise, images that appear unnatural when slowed down, differences between hashtags blockchain-based digital fingerprints, reverse image searches.
  • Look for details,like stange background,orientation of teeth,handsclothing,asymmetrical facial features,use reverse image search tools.

More Details

North Korea Opens More App Stores for Smartphone Users

Smartphone usage is on the rise, but government controls remain strict.

By Son Hyemin for RFA Korean

A screenshot of North Korean mobile phone software apps. Credit: RFA

North Korea is opening more information technology exchange centers across the country – facilities that sell apps to the growing number of smartphone users, residents told Radio Free Asia.

The country has between 6.5 and 7 million active cell phones, according to estimates from the CIA and the Washington-based Stimson Center think tank. Smartphones make up a significant portion of these, and appears to be increasing given the spread of the IT centers, the residents said.

But the people do not have the freedom to download apps as they please. 

To get the latest music app or popular game, users must take their phones to these IT exchange centers and pay a fee to have them installed.

A new IT exchange center opened in the city of Tokchon in the western province of South Pyongan, bringing the total number of centers in the city of 230,000 to five, a resident there told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

“The information technology exchange center installs apps that allow you to watch or listen to the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, movies, songs and other media on your smartphones, and provides a phone repair service,” she said.

She added that young people like to play games and learn foreign languages on their phones, whereas cooking and farming apps are popular with middle-aged people.

The games are often made domestically, but some resemble those made abroad. A screenshot of a North Korean smartphone shows an app called “Talking Cat” that looks similar to Slovenian game developer Outfit7’s “Talking Tom,” if not the same app.

Government control

The IT exchange centers charge 10,000 won (US$1.17) for entertainment and game apps, 15,000 won ($1.76) for language learning apps, cooking apps, and greenhouse farming apps. An ebook app costs 10,000 won. 

A kilogram of rice, meanwhile, costs 7,200 won (80 cents), so getting new apps is somewhat of a luxury.

Because smartphone users must go to these designated IT centers to download apps, the government has a degree of control over what is available to users. 

A screenshot of North Korean mobile phone billiard game app.Credit: RFA

But all smartphones must have an app that tracks what apps people use, what content they view, and what websites they access on the country’s closed intranet, ensuring that almost nobody’s digital footprint is private.

The smartphones used by North Koreans are assembled from parts imported from China and sold under domestic brand names like Pyongyang, Arirang, and Blue Sky. 

A new smartphone costs around $500, but there is a vibrant aftersale market that sells older models for as little as $30.

Cash cow

Since the IT centers are the only way to download apps, they are very profitable, the resident said.

“A few days ago, I went to the information technology exchange center. There were more than ten people who came to install apps or repair their phones,” she said. “If at least 20 customers come per day, they can earn more than 200,000 won ($23.40) in cash profit.”

In years past, there was only one IT center in each province. Now there are multiple centers in each town, a resident of the northwestern province of North Pyongan told RFA, asking not to be identified.

He said that the increase came after Kim Jong Un came into power in 2011, and there was a shift in the country’s IT industry to try to develop software for overseas markets. But the centers are necessary to satiate the domestic appetite for new smartphone software.

“Before, when the information technology exchange center sells a game app, 70% of the sales were donated to the Pyongyang information technology exchange center, which developed the app,” the second resident said. “The remaining 30% of sales went to the local government.” 

But, starting this year, the local governments have been allowed to keep 70% of the profits, so that local governments have been installing new IT centers, he said.

He said that in Sinuiju, the city that lies across the Yalu River from China, there was only one IT center, but this year there is one in each of the city’s 49 subdistricts.

“When you go to the information technology exchange center, there is a large poster or bulletin board with the types and prices of various games, movies, and foreign language apps,” he said. “You can choose whatever you like.”

Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.

“Copyright © 1998-2023, RFA.
Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia,
2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington, D.C. 20036.
https://www.rfa.org.”

Related Article

Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina on…

Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina who has spent 14 years on death row in Indonesia, will be coming home b ...
November 21, 2024

Myanmar Junta Airstrike Kills Vhildren Playing…

Myanmar’s air force bombed a church where displaced people were sheltering near the border with Ch ...
November 18, 2024

Bangkok Court Clears Thai Woman of…

A Bangkok court on Thursday acquitted a Thai woman accused of supporting two Chinese ethnic Uyghur m ...
November 8, 2024

Residents of Kamala Harris’s Ancestral Indian…

At the Hindu temple in Thulasendrapuram, the ancestral village of Kamala Harris, in Tamil Nadu, Indi ...
November 7, 2024

TikTok Deletes Videos Related to Uyghur…

Authorities in Xinjiang have banned Uyghurs from using social media apps, including Chinese-owned ...
November 6, 2024

In Post-Hasina Bangladesh,Awami League Faces Uncertain…

With its leaders in jail or fleeing from justice, the party that led Bangladesh to independence and ...
October 29, 2024

Other Article

News & Views

Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina on…

Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina who has spent 14 years on death row in Indonesia, will be coming home b ...
November 21, 2024
Video Report

Trapped in Lebanon, African Migrants Face…

Many of the estimated 176,000 migrants living in Lebanon are African women who are working menial jo ...
Pick of the Day

Permanent Representative of France Briefs Press…

Nicolas de Rivière,Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations, briefs reporters after ...
November 20, 2024
Video Report

The Impact on a Ukrainian Family…

This week marks 1,000 days of fighting in Ukraine.For millions of Ukrainians, including 32-year-old ...
Pick of the Day

UN Security Council Meets to Discuss…

James Kariuki,Deputy Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations and Presid ...
November 19, 2024
Video Report

Syrian Refugees in Lebanon Flee Bombs

Over half a million people, many of them were refugees who initially fled the Syrian conflict, have ...

[wp-rss-aggregator feeds="crime-more-world"]
Top