Eighty years without
the truth.
We have worked to change that.

Smart Balloon is an electronic and mechanical delivery system, equipped with GPS and an automatic dispenser that releases printed leaflets one sheet at a time, used to carry information materials across very wide areas of North Korea. First deployed in 2016–2017, the system was refined over several years, with a final GPS-guided electronic and mechanical version completed in late 2021. It flies at an altitude of roughly 3,000 to 6,000 meters, releasing its load at pre-set intervals determined by wind conditions, scattering material across an area ranging from at least 50 kilometers to more than 300 kilometers. Full-scale operations began in late 2021, distributing printed materials across multiple regions inside North Korea.

The Red Book's cover is designed to resemble a secret internal document of the North Korean Workers' Party — not only to make it easy to pick up and read, but to give anyone caught holding it a plausible alibi against interrogation by the authorities. Opened, the actual title and contents are entirely different: information the regime does not want circulated abroad, about who Kim Jong-un really is, why he lacks legitimacy, and why he cannot serve the people's interests. It documents, with factual material, that Kim Jong-un's mother, Ko Yong-hui, was born and raised in Japan before returning to North Korea — meaning she could never belong to the "Baekdu bloodline" the regime claims. It also discloses the truth behind why Kim Jong-un sidelined his half-brother Kim Jong-nam, who stood closer to that bloodline than he did. The booklet was first delivered into North Korea in June 2014, and its circulation was followed by heightened tension on the Korean peninsula in the years that followed. NKROC does not claim a proven causal link between the booklet and later events.

The Smart Speaker is carried aloft by a Smart Balloon and slowly descends as it flies toward North Korea. Once it reaches an altitude of roughly 800 meters, it begins broadcasting, continuing until it lands — and continuing even after it lands. It is a large speaker unit, broadcasting toward the ground at more than 500 watts of output. Each broadcast opens with a ten-second siren, repeated four times, followed by a spoken message, repeated on a loop, stating that the Workers' Party oppresses the people and that Kim Jong-un has betrayed the revolution he claims to have fought for. Unlike a printed leaflet, which someone must pick up and choose to read, the broadcast reaches everyone within range regardless of literacy. The system was flown on several occasions between late 2023 and spring 2024. NKROC does not claim a proven causal link, but notes that Pyongyang's own campaign of sending trash-filled balloons south began only after this broadcast — despite years of tolerating printed leaflets sent by Smart Balloon.