SEOUL - South Korea’s military is considering a comprehensive ban on iPhones in military buildings due to increasing concerns about possible leaks of sensitive information through voice recordings, according to multiple sources on April 23.

The sources, a group of ranking officers who wished to speak on condition of anonymity, said that the Air Force headquarters released an internal announcement on the military’s intranet server on April 11, instructing a complete prohibition on any device capable of voice recording and which does not permit third-party apps to control inherent functions, effective June 1, with iPhones cited as items subject to the ban.

According to the document, the decision to ban iPhones in the military came from joint meetings held by the headquarters of the army, navy and air force, located at Gyeryongdae in South Chungcheong province.

The document was quoted as stating: “It’s inevitable to block any kind of voice recording, not just formal communications including meetings, office conversations, business announcements and complaints from and consultations with the public, but also informal communications such as private phone calls (within military buildings).”

According to the document, “there has been an ongoing review regarding the potential extension of this ban to all subordinate units”, with the army headquarters having conducted a trial of the ban since April. If the ban is extended, it will likely go beyond the Gyeryongdae area to include all other units across the nation.

The devices set to be prohibited include all types of smartwatches and wearable devices as well.

Currently, about 10,000 personnel, including some 6,000 officers, are estimated to be on duty at the Gyeryongdae defence centre alone. For security reasons, the exact number is not disclosed to the public.

The specific type of security threat they’re talking about is the threat of “our in-house software can’t control iphones”.

I may be misremembering, but under ios I think that goal is accomplished with mdm instead of an app?