It has been revealed that a general amnesty handed down by the Supreme People’s Assembly on January 5 extends to defectors repatriated from China. However, the government has also warned that anybody caught defecting or attempting to do after the amnesty will be met with severe punishment.
The government said that from February 1, “people who have already been found guilty of committing crimes before the fatherland and the people will be given amnesty,” and claimed it would be enacting administrative policies to make sure they return safely into North Korean society and are able to live and work.
On January 19 a source within North Korea told Daily NK, “It was announced at the Local People’s Unit meeting on January 15 that there would be an official pardon for criminals as a special consideration of the Respected Comrade Kim Jong Eun, and that the government would be releasing prisoners at the National Security Agency, the People’s Safety Agency and labor re-education camps who had been caught after defecting, or suspected of intending to defect by crossing the river illegally.
Notably, previous amnesties have been confined to people found guilty by the country’s legal system. In the last amnesty handed down defectors were also included, however what makes this occasion more unusual is that it includes those who are still being investigated and are yet to go through what is usually a summary trial.
This means that the amnesty extends to those being investigated by the NSA after being repatriated from China as well as those detained in temporary detention facilities after being caught attempting to escape.
However, at the same time as expanding the scope of the amnesty on this occasion, the government has made sure not to leave off a stern warning that anybody caught doing so from now on can expect extremely harsh punishments.
The earlier source said, “There was a warning at the LPU meeting that anybody caught attempting to escape will be subjecting all three generations of their family to punishment,” and that “It was clear to see that even people who have nothing to do with any defections were nervous about it.”
It remains to be seen whether the amnesty will include 19 members of a group of defectors repatriated from Shenyang, China in September last year. Whether the group is released or not has the potential to be a key test of how genuine this pardon is.
According to the source, North Korea will begin releasing defectors in detention centers from the mornings of February 16 and 17. From the contents of the LPU meeting, there seems to also be a high chance that others not guilty of political crimes and who have been ‘model prisoners’ during their incarceration will be released. Given that those found guilty of political crimes are usually sent to the gulags rather than re-education facilities, such people will not be included in the amnesty.
The source revealed that authorities are speeding up their interrogations of defectors, while “there has been a lot of people paying bribes to try and have their family or close friends included in the amnesty.”
The source also said that a holding facility of the provincial NSA in Hyesan currently holds over 100 people caught allegedly trying to defect. “Even the NSA agents at the facility are happy about it because they don’t have anything to feed the detainees anyway. They are hoping to quickly release those that will be released, turn other people over to other parts of the system and make them someone else’s problem and make the place quieter.”
Meanwhile, the LPU meeting on January 19 was used to sing a familiar tune, albeit this time with a different name attached. Citizens were reportedly told that “The Great Leader, Comrade Kim Jong Eun is going without sleep and searching for various ways to improve the livelihoods of the people.”
