Changchun, China — Donga Ilbo, a major South Korean daily newspaper, carried an article on the morning of November 30th claiming that inside sources who reported the movements of Kim Jong Il to “a South Korean online newspaper” during February of this year had been arrested and were awaiting execution. However, this potentially very damaging report has been proven to be without foundation.
Donga Ilbo, quoting its own source in Hoiryeong, claimed in today’s story that those who were arrested “are suspected of reporting news about Kim Jong Il’s visit to Hoireyong in North Hamkyung Province on the 24th of February this year to a South Korean online newspaper via cell phone,” and reported as though the local source who told of Kim’s visit was about to be executed as a result.
The newspaper also claimed, “If only the source had reported (the visit) after Kim left the place, or if the South Korean press had postponed their coverage by a few hours, the National Security Agency would not have been able to track it down,” and reported that coverage of Kim’s onsite inspections on the same day as it occurred had caused that extreme situation.
The Daily NK reported Kim Jong Il’s visit to Hoiryeong on February 24th in real time via a local source. (“Kim Jong Il Surprise Visit to Hoiryeong,” Daily NK, February 24, 2009)
However, upon receiving the Donga Ilbo report, The Daily NK contacted its local source immediately, and it proved to be false. According to the source, The Daily NK report made the atmosphere in March rather tense, but there were no exceptional problems.
The Daily NK subsequently cut its connection with the source for quite some time and prepared additional security measures. Therefore, the situation did not lead to any direct threat to the source’s safety.
The incident that Donga Ilbo was actually reporting today involved a source for a completely different South Korean organization who has been arrested for possessing a cell phone, leading to his family and the names of other local cell phone owners being revealed.
Though this case is of concern to us, the fact is that it has no direct connection with The Daily NK.
In reality, this Donga Ilbo report has only brought the “Report of Kim Jong Il’s visit to Hoiryeong” to the attention of the North Korean authorities once again after all investigations had long since been wrapped up. It will only result in increasing danger to both persons arrested for possessing cell phones and other sources across the board.
