North Korean agent faces firing squad after being caught Googling ‘Kim Jong Un’
- North Korea strictly restricts internet access to prevent access to the outside world
- Several agents from Bureau 10 have been caught surfing the Internet without permission
- Agents were fired and someone who investigated Kim Jong Un faces the firing squad
A North Korean agent faces a firing squad after he was caught using his internet privileges to “Google” Kim Jong-un.
Several agents of the regime’s secretive Bureau 10, which monitors all internal and external electronic communications, were caught surfing the web without permission.
North Korea strictly restricts internet access to prevent its people from knowing anything about the outside world, and even agents have to get permission from their escorts to go online.
But a source in Pyongyang said a colleague of the State Security Ministry agents informed them and an inspection revealed their unauthorized investigation.
The officers were fired and someone who was investigating Kim Jong-un is now facing a firing squad, a source at the ministry told Daily NK, a newspaper in neighboring South Korea.
A North Korean agent faces a firing squad after being caught using his internet privileges for Google Kim Jong Un (pictured on March 12)
The source said, “Agency 10 departments will be given internet access, allowing agents to turn off their keyword recording devices and search the web as much as they want without any issues.
“But after a new bureau chief took over, even these previously routine problems have turned into major incidents.”
Greg Scarlatoiu, director of North Korea’s Human Rights Committee, said the regime’s information firewall was collapsing. He said, “Even the most trusted agents of the Kim regime are now trying to access information from the outside world.
“The Kim family regime has remained in power through overwhelming coercion, punishment, surveillance and information control.
“The regime continues to see the very limited information coming into the country from the outside world as a serious threat to its grip on power.
“Despite the regime’s best efforts, North Korea’s information firewall is slowly but surely and steadily crumbling.
“Information smuggled into the country covertly will eventually bring an end to the oppression North Koreans face.”
All of the individuals caught were young, having joined the agency after graduation late last year, with some middle management and some senior.
The officers caught browsing the internet were fired, and someone investigating Kim Jong Un (pictured March 10) now faces a firing squad
According to Daily NK, they had developed computer programs for the country’s domestic firewall, as well as remote access management, eavesdropping and security systems.
The incident has now sparked a crackdown at the ministry, with investigators also investigating whether the officers involved leaked unauthorized information to others.
The actions of the agent investigating the leader were deemed particularly inexcusable, as he was a “security warrior charged with defending the Greatest Dignity.” [Kim Jong Un] with his life’. “For this act alone … he could be shot,” the paper wrote.
The article did not specify whether Google was the specific search engine used, but it is one of the two leading search engines in neighboring South Korea, along with Naver.
Only a handful of North Koreans have access to the internet; most are expected to settle for a regime-run intranet service where the flow of information is closely controlled.