The following article is the fifth in a multipart series by Taylor Darby, a pseudonym for a foreign diplomat that worked in Pyongyang for an extended period of time before being forced to leave in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Views expressed in columns are exclusively the author’s own and do not represent those of NK News.

There is little doubt that surveillance has become a very sensitive issue in recent years. In North Korea, however, there is no debate in civil society on how much the government can track you, or whether police can unlock your phone. It