New smartphone from North Korea looks like a Galaxy Note 8
A “new” North Korea smartphone boasting high-tech features and a design resembling an older model from South Korea’s Samsung is gaining in popularity domestically, the DPRK external-focused outlet Arirang Meari reported.
An article promoting the “Kiltongmu” (길동무) brand phone, released on the outlet’s website on Monday, described features such as face recognition and fingerprint unlocking, and included an image showing the phone’s resemblance to the Samsung Note 8.
The phone, the article reported, was designed and manufactured completely in-house by the Kwangya Trading Company (광야무역회사) — a company which has not previously been named in North Korean media.
Only a single image was included with the article, appearing to include text indicating the model is the Kiltongmu 1041 or 1061, though the text is blurred by the low resolution of the image.
North Korea smartphone, Arirang said, is “a new type of intelligent mobile phone with a refined appearance, high resolution liquid crystal displays, and distinctive feature.”
Among its features, it continued, are “fingerprint and face recognition function, address book search function, and fast and continuous handwriting input function.”
It also comes preinstalled with “30 dictionaries, programs, entertainment, and media that are popular among users,” the Arirang Meari article said.
The name of the new brand, “Kiltongmu” — meaning “traveling companion” or just “companion” — has also been used in the names of at least two pieces of smartphone software produced by the Samhung IT Exchange Center.
One is the interactive map application for Pyongyang by the same name “Kiltongmu,” said last month also in Arirang Meari to have recently received a new version 2.0 release.
The other is the “Naui Kiltongmu” (나의 길동무, My Companion) 4.0 app, a “comprehensive” app through which users can read E-books, watch recorded broadcasts and videos, and play games.
The actual Samsung Note 8 was, notably, almost introduced to North Korea in early 2018 when the company gifted thousands of units of the phone to athletes participating in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea.
North Korean athletes ultimately were not allowed to receive the phones, however, when the organizing committee for the games decided the gifts would constitute a sanctions violation.
