Paranoid Kim Jong-un changes phone numbers for ALL of North Korea – after directory was smuggled abroad

PARANOID Kim Jong-un has changed every phone number in North Korea - after a telephone directory was smuggled abroad.

The jumpy dictator has ordered engineers to bring in new numbers for everyone listed in the book – which included Kim’s security services.

During the summer, an internal directory containing numbers for government departments, as well as other private lines was smuggled out, causing a headache for the authorities.

It ended up in China and later pages were published on news website Daily NK. Several people have since been arrested on suspicion of treason .

Now the outlet has reported that secretive Kim has shut down all the landline telephone services – causing havoc for merchants.

And it could take six months to make the changes.

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A source told Daily NK: "The directory is about 500 pages long and was published in 2003. It contains the phone numbers of all department offices and security desks across the country.

“There are numbers for various companies and their managers, Workers' Party offices, judicial offices and criminal hotlines, prosecutors’ offices, and many other offices and government departments."

According to another source, traders are facing difficulties with the outage as they can no longer easily coordinate business with partners in other regions They are now being forced to use costly mobile phones.

Another source in North Hamgyong Province added: “Many are feeling uneasy now, because in the markets in South Pyongan Province, we have not been able to contact other merchants in the Pyongsong market.

 “Landline phone services are preferred among merchants due to their cheaper usage fees over mobile services, so this has really caused us a lot of problems."

Even workers in state-owned companies are complaining, demanding a speedy return of landline services as they fear the increased costs associated with mobile phone usage.

Workers away on business trips must also now use personal mobile phones in order to keep their managers updated on their trade activities.

People have been heard complaining about the country's “turtle pace” compared to the rest of the world, suspecting that it may be six months before service is restored.

"Staff within the communications department tasked with conducting the switch are asking how anyone can expect them to work hard on the project when there is a lack of funding. People want a new policy from the government instead of waiting around forever like this," the North Hamgyong-based source added.

Landline phone services only became available to most citizens toward the end of the 1990s, starting with Pyongyang and then spreading to the outer provinces in the early 2000s.

The service became especially popular with merchants as market activities expanded across the country in the last seven years.