I was watching DX Heat yesterday.  Rag chewing with my friends.  I was so flabergasted that I didn't even write down the call.  It was tagged as Republic of N Korea.  I think I have it tagged in my logbook.  I'll look this evening  
But, are they even allowed ham radios?  Could have been a gag, I guess on the taggers part.

Not allowed, probably risking certain torture and execution. Doesn't mean they don't exist.

Can't stop the signal.

No. I think I read there was one back in the 90s. I they've let a DXpedition in once and I think another was going to go recently but Covid stopped it.

Like said above. Probably some illegal ones.

There might be govt sponsored one collecting intelligence, but usually they don't even trust their own operatives to have contact with the outside world.

No, you heard a troll, or something else

https://clublog.org/mostwanted.php

I see them pop up once in a while. You can put any callsign and grid square you want in WSJTX and transmit away.

When I lived in Japan in the 90's I used to copy DPRK RTTY. Some incredible propaganda coming out of there.

To answer your question directly, NO.

There cannot be any LEGITIMATE hams operating in the DPRK until the DPRK allows it.

Even if a ham goes there and even if they operate and manage to not get caught the QSO would not be valid for awards because the operation would be illegitimate until the DPRK allows it.

Now that being said, they HAVE allowed some operations in the past and they were legitimized. Russians and one particular Polish national. Some of these operations have been questioned, but have been accepted.

So some "old timers" have the DPRK confirmed.  You or I are not going to get them confirmed barring some miracle. There are about 20 other entities that you and I are not going to get confirmed in our lifetimes either. Mostly having to do with the fact that entry to these islands is just not allowed for eco reasons.  Perhaps some inroads can be made on some of these with the invention and usage in the last few years of RIBS that can crawl up on the island and operate remotely. We shall see.

Of course many don't like the idea of these type of operations. "that ain't ham radio". cries ring out. Well the transmitter is on the island, the antenna is on the island and the receiver is on the island. So what the mic cord and speaker wires are really long and consist of radio waves.

DXing is just a game. The only questions comes down to the rules and how the game will be played.

FT8 bug

NO... possession of an unauthorize radio receiver with a capital offense in the DPRK, owning a transmitter is punished by death.

They should fill a B-52 squadron with Samsung tablets, home page, the ARFCOM MEME thread, and carpet bomb NORK with freedom tablets

I can only imagine. Would be fun if they still did that and decode it.

I was thinking that ages ago there was someone in like the Swiss embassy or something that was on the air. I could be thinking of something else.

Not that the norks would agree, but they have the perfect location. Years ago there was an area that was constructed in NK connected to the DMZ, but securely fenced off from the rest of NK, that was intended for a kind of industrial park as an economic development thing. Something happened and the idea was scuttled, but the secured area is still there last I saw reporting on it. If they'd allow it and give a callsign, people could go there and have no chance of interaction with NK residents.


Nothing for the tablets to connect to....

How about a Beofeng, a Glock 19 and some grenades.

STARLINK

It's illegal in P5.

Some time after I first licensed I read where a visiting doctor of some kind went to P5 land and as a part of some deal or another got a P5 call sign. I recall he got off about a dozen QSOs before they shut him down.

If I had a shot at making a DXpedition to P5 land I wouldn't tie up all the time and money unless I had something signed by Kim Jong Un PERSONALLY.

Even then I would think it over VERY carefully. It's not worth the time and money to get a couple QSOs off and be shut down.

My GUESS is the the doctor got shut down by some lackey that didn't understand what was happening and went into a wide-eyed panic. What's he mean by 5-9? What's QSO mean?

Most of those people don't even understand what ham radio even IS. The very idea of communication with the outside world to them is something they fear.

I have seen a NK call pop up on a DX Cluster and pop up on FT8 before, but it was a US call according to the FCC database. For some weird reason that happens sometimes, I don't know why.

Every now and then someone who wants an INSTANT pileup of epic proportions posts a P5 station on the clusters.

It's an epic troll for sure

Some kind of bad decode on FT8 probably.

The one that made me laugh was the time someone posted P5 as an ATNO and a couple of minutes later someone posted SP5 (Poland) on the same frequency.

Betcha the guy that posted P5 felt kinda dumb.

It happens all the time.