[imText1]North Korea’s National Security Agency held a press conference making an announcement on the 5th of this month regarding the arrest of foreign spies and North Korean conspirators.
It is very rare for North Korea to make a public announcement of incidents regarding conspiracy and spying for the public. The North Korean defectors currently residing in South Korea claim that this is an example of the chaos and system rebellion that is taking place within North Korea.
There has been a frequent outcry of the national infrastructure since 2000. There have been rumors that there has been frequent discussions and conferences among the North Korean leaders expressing their need to prevent these uprisings from reoccurring.
In 2003, on March and August, the Central Committee of the Party
passed around a document stating, “Let’s destroy the Anti-Socialists and their propaganda that strives to spread Capitalistic regressive ideology to our nation.” This document urged complete elimination of Anti-Socialist rebellion by destroying power-transmission towers around the region of Kaema Plateau.
In reality, on June 2003, the power-transmission tower which connects the high voltage electricity from South Hamkyung to Yangkang was destroyed, causing a complete black out in the Yangkang. When the blackout occurred, the production line for other factories located in Yangkang province, including Samjiyeon Precision Machinery Factory and other munitions factories, was cut. Furthermore, the ventilation in the Youth Coal Mine in Hyesan, which was re-installed, also stopped running.
Frequent Occurrences of Power-transmission Tower Destruction since 2000
According to the North Korean electricity experts, this kind of destructive acts occurs from May to August, when there is typhoon or monsoon.
The power-transmission destroyers appear the time between May to September, and go into the dark, vacant mountain and unscrew the power-transmission towers. The tower that has been unscrewed cannot be held up during the serious monsoon season, which leads to its immediate fall after a couple of days.
The fact that North Korea is mentioning this at authorities’ conferences or during the senior officials meetings means the significance of the destruction of power-transmission towers.
Of course, these incidents were not spread out for the civilians to know. It is because there is a big concern on the repercussions that may arise when the issue of public facilities destruction is known to the civilians.
There was a huge confusion in the National Security Agency and the People’s Safety Agency in South Hamkyung when the munitions factories’ lines were stopped as a result of the power-transmission tower destruction. The State decided to launch a thorough search on the criminals, but no sign of arrest was shown.
Shutting off electrocity in the historical memorial of Kim Il Sung
These destructive patterns on power-transmission towers did not end for a long time. There was a clear statement repeatedly shown in the documents limitedly distributed to the authorities in May 2005 that, “There has been a several cases of destruction of the power-transmission towers in spite of the consistent and regular preventive measures.”
The document stated that it took a week to restore and clear out the ramifications of the destroyed tower, which suspended power supply to the old battlefield memorials and historical spots of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il in Jagang and Yangkang..
According to the document, this kind of destructive behavior not only affects the national economy but also the inspection carried out by Kim Jong Il on the military and the provinces.
There have not been any specific clearances on the possible culprit, or how big the organization is, or what the purpose of this constant destruction may be. There is only a suspicion that this series of destruction since 2000 is due to the minority with Anti-government sentiments.
Apart from these incidents, there have been a numerous cases being reported regarding the retaliatory acts to NSA members, agents or their family members. The Shinuiju NSA Agent’s assault that was reported in DailyNK in April is a good instance. (Read the related article.)
Increasing number of private revenge cases towards NSA members and agents
There has been disturbing incidents of which the tombs of the deceased/former NSA members and agents have been dug up.
Although it has been announced that these incidents were done by anti-government and anti-revolution rebels in several kinds of public conferences or lectures, it is getting more difficult for the powerful politicians or businessmen in North Korea to remain unworried.
Kim Myung Il (pseudonym), a North Korean defector who came to South Korea in 2006, testified that some safety agents tell the criminals during the interrogations that, “This is just my job, so I have no choice but to interrogate you. I don’t want to cause any reason for you to hate me.” Many of the North Korean defectors currently residing in South Korea reported to have heard these phrases during their time in jails before.
There is also negative impact being caused to North Korean civilians as a result of the power-transmission tower destruction, causing public opinion to come down. It is undeniable that there has been a significant increase of the North Korean civilians’ discomfort and dissatisfaction on their State structure and ideology since 2000.
There is no proof as of today whether these Anti-government behaviors are being done through some well-organized group of people. However, it seems to be clear that unless there is a significant change in the North Korean system, there will be a constant reappearance of information infiltration, distribution of leaflets and posters, and destruction of public goods.
