91Èȱ¬

North Korea has upgraded the operating system used in the country - and it bears a striking resemblance to Apple's Mac OSX platform.

Red Star OS is the country's "home-grown" software that is installed on computers found mostly in libraries and schools.

It previously had a look that closely mimicked Microsoft's Windows system.

Screenshots were obtained by American computer scientist Will Scott and .

Despite living in a country very much shut off from the outside world, many people in North Korea do have access to technology - including mobile phones.

However, devices are heavily restricted. Internet access, for instance, is locked down, with most users able to visit only a handful of sites mostly serving up state-sponsored news.

The Linux-based Red Star OS is peppered with North Korean propaganda, and its calendar tells users it is not 2014, but 103 - the number of years since the birth of former North Korean leader Kim Il-sung.

An earlier version of Red Star OS was made available worldwide in 2010 after a Russian student posted it online.

The latest version is believed to have been released some time in 2013.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been keen to demonstrate his country's technological abilities since coming to power in December 2011.

In August 2013, he visited a factory that was said to have been manufacturing the country's first smartphone.

Industry experts, however, were unconvinced - most agreed that it was more likely to have been made in China.