You’re very wrong. Those are official phone they can have.
But there is also a lot of contreband and trafficking across the border. They have all kind of stuff.
I remember also seeing a documentary that explained that they are also quite aware of what is going on outside. The big difference was the pace at which news travels.
I’ve watched really too many of them, I really can’t remember. It was probably one about the border with China.
This one is a fascinating documentary about a father in Japan, pro North Korea who sent his 3 sons to live in NK after the war.
There is another one I enjoyed it’s the episode from the departure (one of my fav travel doc)