Chinese cameras in use to tighten control of citizens

Surveillance tools threaten to erase private space of civilians, report says

North Korea is putting surveillance cameras in schools and workplaces and collecting fingerprints, photographs and other biometric information from its citizens in a technology-driven push to monitor its population even more closely, according to a report.

The state’s growing use of digital surveillance tools, which combined equipment imported from China with domestically developed software, threatened to erase many of the small spaces North Koreans had left to engage in private business activities, access foreign media and secretly criticise their government, researchers wrote in the report.

But the isolated country’s digital ambitions have to contend with poor electricity supplies and low network connectivity. Those challenges, and a history of reliance on human methods of spying on its citizens, mean digital surveillance is not yet as pervasive as in China, according to the report published by the North Korea-focused website 38 North.

The study’s findings align with widely held views that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is stepping up efforts to tighten the state’s control of its citizens and promote loyalty to his regime.

These efforts were boosted by the Covid-19 pandemic, during which the North imposed stringent border controls that were maintained for three years before a cautious reopening last year.

New laws and recent reports of harsher punishments suggest that the government is cracking down on foreign influence and imported media, possibly helped by fences and electronic monitoring systems installed on the border with China during the pandemic.

“Having seen that it’s possible to close the border this tightly, I think they are now keen to keep it that way,” said Martyn Williams, an analyst who co-authored the study with Natalia Slavney.

“In terms of broader surveillance across the country, the pandemic could have played a part, but I think a much bigger role has been played by the fast-reducing cost of surveillance equipment,” Williams said.

The report examined North Korean surveillance technologies through information gained from domestic and international media coverage and publicly announced research at North Korean universities and state organisations.

The researchers also said they interviewed 40 North Korean escapees about the surveillance they experienced when they lived in the country and, through unspecified partners, surveyed 100 current North Korean residents last year via phone, text messages and other forms of encrypted communication to ensure their safety.

State media reports showed video surveillance was becoming more common at schools, workplaces and airports. The cameras are mostly sourced from Chinese vendors and range from basic video feeds to more advanced models that include features such as face recognition.

Experts have warned China is exporting the technology that powers its artificial intelligence-powered surveillance to countries around the world.

North Korean state media reports showed cameras now appeared in most schools in the capital, Pyongyang, and other major cities, allowing school staff to remotely monitor what was happening in classrooms by panning and zooming to focus on individual students or teachers.

Cameras are also widespread in factories, government buildings and other workplaces, both to improve security and to prevent theft, while facial recognition systems have been used to record visitors at Pyongyang’s Sunan airport since 2019.

North Korea has also been expanding its network of traffic cameras beyond Pyongyang since 2021, installing them at major roads heading into and out of the city, possibly for the purpose of automatically recording number plates, the report said.

The government may not yet be fully able to utilise the data it collects, and it currently does not have an intensive network of security cameras on streets and in residential areas, possibly because of electricity shortages and the large number of security agents already monitoring public life in Pyongyang and elsewhere.