North Korean UN Mission Voicemail Hacked with Satirical Message
Hackers re-recorded North Korea's UN mission voicemail with a satirical message about Kim Jong Un and food shortages. CNN investigates.
POLICY WIRE — New York, United States — For nearly three decades, the only direct line to the North Korean government has been a phone number listed in the United Nations member directory. This number connects to the country’s sole diplomatic office on U.S. soil, located on the 13th floor of a Manhattan skyscraper.
However, sometime within the past three years, an unknown individual reportedly hacked the voicemail system, replacing the official greeting with a satirical monologue mocking North Korea’s food shortages and its leader, Kim Jong Un. The altered message, discovered by CNN in late September, features a high-pitched voice using a racist East Asian accent, joking about the nation’s chronic hunger crisis and urging callers to leave messages for Kim.
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The voicemail ends with an automated announcement that the mailbox is full. Experts suggest the breach may have been relatively easy, as many users fail to change default voicemail passwords. A cybersecurity researcher noted that guessing such codes can be done quickly and cheaply. Meanwhile, the North Korean mission has not responded to inquiries about the incident, and staff members reportedly denied knowledge of the change when confronted directly.
Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)
