North Korea Buys New German-Chinese Phone Spying Equipment

The government of North Korea has purchased 15 foreign-made devices to tap phones, reports Daily NK. According to their article:

Once the devices are up and running, North Korea will be able to listen to any mobile phone conversation through the Koryolink (191 numbers) and Kang Song NET (195 numbers) mobile services, the country’s two major service providers.

No information was provided about the equipment, which is reportedly manufactured by a German-Chinese joint venture.

Unlike other countries, the North Korean government makes no secret of the way it uses telecommunications to spy upon everybody. On the contrary, the article says that anyone subscribing to a mobile phone service will be told that the government has the ability to listen to their calls. Presumably the idea is that if Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un (pictured) cannot hear anything bad said about his regime, then nobody else can hear it either.

Eric Priezkalns
Eric Priezkalns
Eric is the Editor of Commsrisk. Look here for more about the history of Commsrisk and the role played by Eric.

Eric is also the Chief Executive of the Risk & Assurance Group (RAG), a global association of professionals working in risk management and business assurance for communications providers.

Previously Eric was Director of Risk Management for Qatar Telecom and he has worked with Cable & Wireless, T‑Mobile, Sky, Worldcom and other telcos. He was lead author of Revenue Assurance: Expert Opinions for Communications Providers, published by CRC Press. He is a qualified chartered accountant, with degrees in information systems, and in mathematics and philosophy.