China might deploy these wild espionage techniques at the U.S.-North Korea summit


Next week's U.S.-North Korea summit is supposed to be a closed-door meeting, but China may try to sneak a peek inside.
Beijing is expected to deploy crafty espionage techniques to listen in on the summit in Singapore, U.S. officials tell NBC News. Compromised cell phones, spies disguised as waiters, and bugged hotel key cards are not out of the question.
On a recent trip to China, the American delegation couldn't wear "friendship pins" from the Chinese because they were probably bugged. Another time, a U.S. official found a microphone inside his hotel keycard. Some senior officials pack secure belongings in carry-on bags and even take them out to dinner when traveling in China, per NBC.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
So U.S. security experts are taking some precautions for this monumental meeting. They'll search for bugs in the Singapore hotel being used for the summit and may even install camera-blocking tents in conference rooms.
Cell phones may be the biggest threat, experts told NBC, seeing as President Trump regularly uses non-secure smartphones for phone calls and tweeting. Everyone is told to remove phone batteries because China has figured out how to penetrate phones even when they're switched off.
Read more about China's sneaky spy techniques at NBC News.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
The app tackling porn addiction
Under the Radar Blending behavioural science with cutting-edge technology, Quittr is part of a growing abstinence movement among men focused on self-improvement
-
Magazine solutions - August 29, 2025
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - August 29, 2025
-
Magazine printables - August 29, 2025
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - August 29, 2025
-
Supreme Court allows social media age check law
Speed Read The court refused to intervene in a decision that affirmed a Mississippi law requiring social media users to verify their ages
-
Nvidia hits $4 trillion milestone
Speed Read The success of the chipmaker has been buoyed by demand for artificial intelligence
-
X CEO Yaccarino quits after two years
Speed Read Elon Musk hired Linda Yaccarino to run X in 2023
-
Musk chatbot Grok praises Hitler on X
Speed Read Grok made antisemitic comments and referred to itself as 'MechaHitler'
-
Disney, Universal sue AI firm over 'plagiarism'
Speed Read The studios say that Midjourney copied characters from their most famous franchises
-
Amazon launches 1st Kuiper internet satellites
Speed Read The battle of billionaires continues in space
-
Test flight of orbital rocket from Europe explodes
Speed Read Isar Aerospace conducted the first test flight of the Spectrum orbital rocket, which crashed after takeoff
-
Apple pledges $500B in US spending over 4 years
Speed Read This is a win for Trump, who has pushed to move manufacturing back to the US