Red Star OS (Korean: λΆμλ³; MR: PulgΕnbyΕl) is a North Korean Linux distribution, with development first starting
in 1998 at the Korea Computer Center (KCC). Prior to its release, computers in North Korea typically used Red Hat Linux and Windows XP.
Version 3.0 was released in the summer of 2013, but as of 2014, version 1.0 continues to be more widely used. It is offered only in a Korean language edition, localized with North Korean terminology and spelling.
Red Star OS features a modified Mozilla Firefox browser called Naenara ("My country" in Korean), which is used for browsing the Naenara web portal on the North Korean internet network known as Kwangmyong. Naenara comes with two search engines. Other software includes a text editor, an office suite, an e-mail client, audio and video players, and video games. Version 3, like its predecessors, runs Wine, a piece of software that allows Windows programs to be run under Linux.
The operating system utilizes customized versions of KDE Software Compilation. Earlier versions had KDE 3-based desktops. Version 3.0 closely resembles Apple's macOS, whereas previous versions more closely resembled Windows XP; current North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was seen with an iMac on his desk in a 2013 photo, indicating a possible connection to the redesign.
The Japan-based North Korea-affiliated newspaper Choson Sinbo interviewed two Red Star OS programmers in June 2006. English-language technology blogs, including Engadget and OSnews, as well as South Korean wire services such as Yonhap, went on to repost the content. In late 2013, Will Scott, who was visiting the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, purchased a copy of version 3 from a KCC retailer in southern Pyongyang, and uploaded screenshots to the internet.
In 2015, two German researchers speaking at the Chaos Communication Congress described the internal operation of the OS. The North Korean government wants to track the underground market of USB flash drives used to exchange foreign films, music and writing, so the system watermarks all files on portable media attached to computers.
