Man connects to North Korea's internet to see what you can really access
A man has connected to North Korea’s internet to find out what you can really access on it.
We all know that the secretive country has very strict rules on what its citizens are allowed to know about the outside world.
So, it’s no surprise that North Koreans don’t have free access to the internet.
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But what does the limited intranet there allow residents to see?
One man named Eric Parker decided to find out, uploading what he discovered to his YouTube channel.
In the video description, it read: “Connecting the North Korean OS, Red Star to the internet to surf the net, Kim Jong Un style.”
The YouTuber installed the operating system onto his laptop before he began browsing the internet.
Interestingly, Parker discovered that he could choose from four different locations - North Korea, Russia, and Osaka and Tokyo in Japan.
Loading up the system, he immediately noticed that it resembled “Mac OS”, adding, “I actually think they've done a really good job of the theming here”.
He decided to try to load up Google and remarked on the “magic” used to stop people from using the internet.
When he tried to look up his own YouTube channel, Parker was stopped by what appeared to be a “certificate error”.
When he searched for Wikipedia, he was faced with the same problem.
The YouTuber discovered just how difficult it is for North Koreans to access mainstream websites that most people visit daily.
Viewers shared their own reactions to the footage in the comment section, with one user writing: “Imagine if they find out that someone is using their OS on the other side of the planet.”
Another said: “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.”
A third person posted: “Imagine if when you opened Google, the browser said ‘Kim Jong Un wants to know your location’.”
Another wrote: “The inclusion of two Japanese timezones in a very small list of others is eerie, as North Korea has a history of espionage in Japan.”
Although one person had their own theory about the location options, adding: “Japan has at least 1, possibly a couple, small area(s)/cit(-y)(-ies) that is/are loyal to North Korea. So maybe Japanese is for them.”
And a sixth user joked: “69 missed calls from Kim Jong Un.”