North Korea: How flash drives can overthrow the dictatorial regime

A North Korea is more than ever in the news because of the imminent war climate with the US. Living under a dictatorship, the country calls on its own population against the external enemies it wants to exterminate. But while Trump seems to think that nuclear weapons are the solution, there are those who have a much more ingenious alternative. A group of activists is using thousands of flash drives to “bomb” the Kim Jong-un regime with information.

Since 2016, human rights activist groups have orchestrated a task force responsible for sending shipments of movies, music videos and even Wikipedia articles for North Korea. North Koreans, it is worth remembering, are forced to watch a single TV channel every day with government propaganda. The information on the flash drives, therefore, aims to create awareness among the population. Instead of starting a war and killing millions, the idea is to cause a dictatorship to implode through knowledge.

To this end, groups such as Human Rights Foundation and No chain receive donations of flash drives, fill them with content and send them to the North Korea in various ways. At first, a few brave ones crossed the border to deliver it into the hands of some insurgents. After a while, thousands of flash drives began to be sent by balloons. More recently, hundreds of thousands of flash devices have been shipped by drones.

Why flash drives?

While the cloud replaced flash drives for many people in 2017, the technology is still useful for information smugglers. Devices can work even without an internet connection, which is rare in North Korea. Thus, it is possible to consume movies, TV series and K-Pop music even offline. Generally, North Koreans use in Chinese cheap tablets that cannot be tracked governo hair.

These flash drives are already famous among North Koreans. Those who receive shipments at the border usually sell them to the rest of the population. According to data from movements linked to the initiative, there are already 90% the number of inhabitants who have already watched content from flash drives. These people often spend a week's worth of work to buy them..

North Korea's Heroes

Anyone who thinks this initiative is exclusive to countries like South Korea, Europe and the USA is wrong. Park Sang-hak, born in the Asian country and “freed by information”, is the leader of the activist group Fighters for a Free North Korea, who goes through various dangers to fulfill his mission.

All of our partners in South Korea have South Korean government bodyguards to protect them, because the number of times the North Korea sent assassins to kill them is significant,” says Thor Halvorssen, president of the Human Rights Foundation, of North Korean groups.

After a balloon launch publicized to the press, the North Korea responded with an unfriendly statement.

I would say 'We want to kill you for this activity' is the sort of thing that would indicate that the regime definitely sees a threat.

Still, the sending of educational material must continue. Human rights groups are seeking more donations to send a real educational missile to the North Korea. With one million units, it is believed that the amount of people impacted could be large enough to create awareness across the country. In addition to escaping the dictator's attacks, however, there is another challenge. The mission must be completed before Trump hits the infamous nuclear button.