N. Korean agent faces the firing squad after being caught "googling" Kim Jong Un

A North Korean agent faces a firing squad after he was caught using his internet privileges to 'google' Kim Jong Un.

Several agents from the regime's secretive Bureau 10, which snoops on all internal and external electronic communications, were caught surfing the web without authorisation, Daily Mail reports.

North Korea strictly curtails internet access to prevent its people from learning about the outside world, and even agents must seek permission from their handlers to go online.

But a Pyongyang source said a colleague of the agents at the Ministry of State Security informed them and an inspection revealed their illicit research.

The agents were dismissed, and one who researched Kim Jong Un now faces a firing squad, a ministry source told Daily NK, a newspaper based in neighbouring South Korea.

According to Daily NK, they had been developing computer programs for the country's domestic firewall, as well as managing remote access, bugging and security systems.

The incident has now led to a heavy crackdown in the ministry, with investigators also probing whether the agents involved had leaked illicit information to others.

The actions of the agent who had researched the leader were deemed unforgivable since he was a 'security warrior tasked with defending the Greatest Dignity [Kim Jong Un] with his life'. 'This act alone… could get him shot,' the newspaper wrote.

The article didn't specify whether Google was the search engine used, but it is one of the two leading search engines in neighbouring South Korea, along with Naver.

Only a handful of North Koreans are permitted internet access; most are expected to make do with a regime-run intranet service where the flow of information is tightly monitored.