Following an extended period of military tension following the declaration of UN Resolution 2087 in late January, there are signs that North Korea is again deliberately ratcheting up domestic insecurity, lending weight to the claim that if the UN adopts a fresh resolution against Pyongyang, a state of “preparation for military mobilization” or some other heightened state of alert will be reintroduced.
A North Hamkyung Province source explained today, “Workers sent back to their workplaces on or after the 14th have been given a lecture about how ‘when military exercises resume soon, field exercises will resume’, and orders stating that not only training for reserves but also for Worker and Pleasant Red Guards must go up a notch.”
The content of the lecture, the source added, was that “the U.S. imperialists and their followers are rushing to prepare sanctions measures against us in the UN, so we must also prepare more quickly to fight with them.”
According to the source, the situation is similar to that at the end of last month, when the military readiness posture was raised and people were warned that martial law was likely to be declared.
“Orders have come down from the provincial Party telling every household to donate 5kg of corn to support the military,” the source said. “Even reserves and Worker and Peasant Red Guards, meaning not even the regular military, have plans to produce metal dog tags and give them out.”
In addition, the National Defense Commission has allegedly ordered all public agencies and enterprises to construct arms stores on-site in order to facilitate the quicker distribution of weaponry in an emergency.
“They’ve ordered people to prepare emergency food stores and every people’s unit is organizing nighttime patrols, so it looks like they will have emergency drills and declare a quasi-state of war at some point soon,” the source concluded.
