New Delhi, June 1 -- A smartphone smuggled out of North Korea has uncovered shocking evidence of the regime's extreme surveillance tactics and linguistic manipulation, shedding light on how Kim Jong-un's government continues to tighten its grip over the country's population.

The device, obtained by the BBC in late 2024 and analysed by tech experts, reveals that North Korean smartphones-running a heavily modified version of Android-are embedded with tools specifically designed to enforce state ideology, censor foreign influence, and monitor citizens' every digital move.

One of the most disturbing features is the phone's automatic rewriting of certain terms. Typing "South Korea" into the phone replaces it with "puppet state," a derogatory...