The National Security Agency (NSA) has dispatched a team of agents to track the growing number of persons failing to return to North Korea on time at the end of legally sanctioned trips to see family in China. The team, which is made up of around 50 agents, is operating in places commonly frequented by North Korean visitors, such as restaurants and hostels.
“I hear that these days there are quite a lot of people failing to return to North Korea at the end of their visa period, so the NSA has dispatched a team to arrest them. It was dispatched to Dandong and Shenyang on the 30th of last month,” a source from the Chinese side of the border reported today. “They arrested four people last week near Shenyang and repatriated them.”
“There are always people who fail to return, so the team is an annual event,” the source added. “However, just now the number of non-returnees is growing, so they sent over a larger team this time.”
A second source from the area confirmed the story, saying, “If you go to restaurants or hostels regularly used by North Koreans just now, you’ll find there are these small groups of Chosun people dressed in ways you haven’t seen for a while. Based on their clothing and actions they seem to be NSA guys, and that is what the restaurant owners are saying as well.”
“In a lot of cases, people visiting relatives in China are doing so because life is hard in North Korea and they want to get some help,” the source explained. “But many of the families aren’t having a good time of it, either, so it is not always easy to get that help. That’s why many of them end up overstaying their visas in order to get money.”
Under current North Korean regulations, people from cities bordering China can get ‘river crossing permits’ lasting for a month, while people from further inland can get ‘passports’ that allow them to remain in China for three months. However, the source explained, “It costs money to get those permits, so people who don’t have any end up in debt. That’s why they overstay their period; to earn money.”
Even before the current dispatch of NSA agents, the North Korean authorities had been pursuing people attempting to travel between areas by inter-city bus. This is because, unlike China’s railways, such buses are a viable way to travel long distances without providing a form of identification when buying a ticket. North Korean agents are known to be operating at bus terminals and even travelling on popular routes in an attempt to catch illegally resident North Koreans.
