[imText1]An officer and sergeant from the border guard patrol have been sentenced to execution under the suspicion of receiving money for assisting defectors, a North Korean source alerted on the 1st.
In a telephone conversation with the DailyNK, Lee Myung Jonn (pseudonym) of Hoiryeong revealed “Two border guards in the vicinity of Hoiryeong will be executed at the end of this month for allowing runaway defectors to cross the river” and “The people have set an example for the central authorities to test the integrated inspection system.”
Lee gathered this information from another man Kim, who had been caught for bribery and was luckily able to be released. Kim said “I am not sure whether the execution will take place in the gallows as an indoor execution or by open fire” and added “However, I am definitely sure they will be killed.”
The Military Security Control Centre of the People’s Army conducts indoor executions, which involves placing suspects on public trials in the form of a “comrade trial” and swiftly executes them.
Lee said that the execution had been set for mid-January however the date was postponed as “The inspection agency thought the sound of gunfire would cast a shadow over the dictator’s birthday (Feb 16th).”
According to Lee, the border guards and central authorities had been collaborating with one another since last November.
This integrated inspection agency has been established in order to prevent the continuous number of defectors escaping through the border with bribes which had been occurring more frequently since the nuclear experiment and also to stop inside information from leaking to South Korea of which again the border guards were blamed.
While the integrated inspection agency was in the midst of investigating citizens who escaped through the border and conducted illicit trading, a commander and a vice-commander in charge of a guard post were arrested. Apparently this investigation had focused on inspecting soldiers and sergeants in the border region.
With the activity of the integrated inspection agency, the districts around the border have come to a stand still. The number of soldiers who in the past received money and articles to assist in escapes have declined and no matter how much money is offered it has become impossible to escape, an inside source said.
Lee said that all the people who attempted to cross the border during this inspection period had been placed either at Hoiryeong or Musan awaiting the atmosphere to subside.
In the past, soldiers would accept 500~1000yuan Chinese currency per person and allow them escape. As the standard of bribes increased so too did the expenses and consequently security also. Through this case, North Korean authorities even changed their work operations in order to dismantle the foundation of border guards who assist defectors.
