Although it claims to have had no coronavirus cases, North Korea requested the international community’s help with combatting the virus, illustrating yet again its lack of transparency. Under Kim Jong-un, the country’s leader since 2012, the totalitarian regime continues to keep its citizens in a state of ignorance. The widespread adoption of mobile phones, including smartphones, has been accompanied by technical measures allowing almost complete control over communications within the domestic intranet. North Koreans can still be sent to a concentration camp for looking at an online media outlet based outside the country. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) is the only permitted source of official news for the country’s other media. Ostensibly, the Korean authorities are displaying greater flexibility towards the foreign media, but they continue to exercise meticulous control over the information available to them.
