Red Star OS

The Official Linux Distro of the DPRK

Bio:
Origin: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)
Category: Desktop
Desktop Environment: KDE
Architecture: x86
Based on: Fedora*
Media: Installed Via DVD

System Requirements:
CPU: 800 MHz Processor
(Intel Pentium III or greater)
RAM: 256 MB
Hard Drive Space Required: 3 GB

Glossary:
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea; “North Korea”
Republic of Korea; “South Korea”

Users on archive.org believe it is fedora based, but evidence appears anecdotal.

Where Did Red Star OS Come From?

Red Star OS is a Korean (DPRK) based operating system developed at the Korea Computer Center, known as the KCC. The KCC is the leading IT R&D base of the DPRK. It was founded on October 24, 1990 under the guidance of then President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il to develop and supply software and hardware products for various fields such as, operating systems, computer networks, control & signal processing, biosignal processing, information security, and software development for important national projects.

Features:
Red Star 3.0 uses the KDE 3 desktop environment, which was customized to look like Mac OSX. The primary browser is a modified Mozilla Firefox called Naenara. Naenara (meaning “my country”) was designed so that users could access the DPRK’s intranet network known as Kwangyong. Red Star 3.0 also includes a text editor, an email client, office suite (apps like word, excel, etc), audio and video players, games, a file sharing program, and Wine (a program that allows Linux to run .exe programs which are native to Windows).

Version History

Pre-Red Star OS:
Prior to Red Star OS, the KCC typically used Red Hat Linux because it was a mature, open-source, commercial distribution of Linux. Additionally, the DPRK had purchased some copies of Windows XP. It is not known from which vendor. While Red Hat Linux was open-source, in the eyes of the DPRK, Red Hat Linux could pose a security threat to the state as it was still foreign software. Microsoft Windows XP was approved by the state on a “temporary basis” as reliance on a private western company’s software posed an immense security risk down the line. Development on Red Star Linux likely began to decrease dependency on foreign software. The DPRK’s leading philosophy, Juche (pronounced: JOO-CHAY), advocates for self-reliance, therefor Juche necessitated that the KCC develop an OS internally that serves the people and meets their needs.

Version 1.0/Beta
Released in 2008, this version was very reminiscent of Windows XP. This is likely because most consumer computers available to the public were machines with Windows XP on them and the KCC wanted to create a user experience that was familiar to most people. Version 1.0 introduced the “Naenara” web browser, an Office Suite based on Open Office, called “URI 2.0” and Wine. Only one copy has been leaked online. The leak was discovered by Republic of Korea (ROK) media outlets.

Version 2.0
Development for 2.0 began right away in March 2008. 2.0 was released on June 3, 2009. This version still resembled Windows XP. Version 2.0 saw the full release of Naenara, Version 1.0. Before, Naenara was a modified version of Firefox. Red Star OS 2.0 sold for 2000 won ($15 USD) and Naenara sold for 4000 won ($28 USD). Version 2.0 didn’t differ greatly from 1.0. The main difference was a new special keyboard layout different than the ROK layout to fit the dialect of Korean spoken in the DPRK.

Version 3.0
3.0 was released on April 15, 2009. This version of the OS marked a shift in its design Red Star OS now resembled macOS! The Red Star OS devs moved away from URI and released a new, modified version of Open Office called Sogwang Office. This version also featured IPv4 and IPv6 address support. Now users could explore the greater internet! With new features and greater access to the internet, Red Star OS came with applications designed to monitor its users. This was likely introduced as a security measure to protect citizens and state assets from nefarious users.

Version 4.0
Little is known about this version. According to the Pyongyong Times, an official version of Red Star OS 4.0 was completed by January 2019 featuring full network support as well as system and service management tools.

Vulnerabilities

In 2016, the computer security company, Hacker House, found a security vulnerability in Naenara. The vulnerability makes it possible to execute commands on the computer if the user clicks a crafted link.

Red Star OS Context Within The DPRK

It is important to note that while some of the security or design choices may seem “strange” to us westerners, the DPRK has a long and painful history of being subjugated to colonization and western imperialism. Many media outlets will call Red Star OS “totalitarian” or “jingoistic.” Before drawing any conclusions, consider the historical context of the DPRK. They have a deep interest in securing their systems to protect themselves from foreign attacks and western meddling. That’s not to say that there is no room for criticism of certain security measures taken in Red Star OS, but it begs the question, is it any worse than the current state of software in the west? Consider the amount of trackers, monitors and data mining applications in Microsoft Windows. How much of your personal data is sold off by Windows, streaming services, other online services, and other companies. At least when you purchase Red Star OS for $15 USD you get to keep it and your data is not sold, unlike Windows were you are only given “permission” to use it and your data is sold.

The citizens of the DPRK are people that use computers in their daily lives just like us.

Sources:

“Red Star OS”. ArchiveOS, archive.org/redstar. Retrieved 2024-11-25.

“Red Star OS”. Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Star_OS. Retrieved 2024-11-25

Credits:

Written By - Janku

Illustrations – @drowsy.kb on instagram