A man accessed the internet in North Korea and was shocked by what he encountered.
The country is infamous for its stringent control over the information its citizens can access.
Unrestricted internet access would pose a significant challenge to maintaining this control.
Therefore, North Korea imposes tight regulations on what its population can view online.
It’s not only about controlling the content but also considering the risks of cyber attacks.
Exposing the country to western websites could increase vulnerability, giving North Korea multiple strategic and political reasons to tightly regulate internet access.
However, when YouTuber Eric Parker accessed the browser used in North Korea, he was taken aback by his findings.
This involved installing a North Korean operating system on his laptop to gain internet access.
Western browsers like Chrome, Firefox, or Safari are incompatible with this segment of the internet.
In his video, Parker stated: “Connecting the North Korean OS, Red Star to the internet to surf the net, Kim Jong Un style.”
Upon logging in, he discovered he could select from four locations.
These included North Korea, Russia, Tokyo, and Osaka in Japan, notably excluding China.
Interestingly, the browser’s design resembled older Mac interfaces.
“I actually think they’ve done a really good job of the theming here,” Parker commented.
One viewer noted the resemblance, stating: “I find it interesting that they themed it after MacOS. There’s no real reason that would be necessary, but they still spent the time to do it. They must really like the look haha.”
However, there were strict regulations in place.
When Parker attempted to access websites like Google and YouTube, including his own channel, he was unable to do so.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs8Y1TZ3ySg
Ambiguous error messages appeared when he tried to visit these sites.
Viewers shared their thoughts, with one commenting: “Imagine if they find out that someone is using their OS on the other side of the planet.”
Another joked: “Imagine if when you opened Google, the browser said ‘Kim Jong Un wants to know your location’.”