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2017.06.28
| Won | Pyongyang | Sinuiju | Hyesan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exchange Rate | 8,070 | 8,050 | 8,095 |
| Rice Price | 5,800 | 6,000 | 5,900 |
The most recent escape from North Korea of Kim Kwang Ho, a former re-defector who even appeared in a propaganda press conference in Pyongyang following his initial return to North Korea last year, has incited the urgent dispatch of a Defense Security Command investigation team. The team is charged with reviewing the actions of both Border Guard units and the smugglers who collude with them to assist defection.
Responsibility for border security was transferred in April last year, and now falls under the auspices of the National Security Agency. Therefore, from a systematic perspective the current case represents an instance of military security investigating a civilian security organ. A similar event occurred in November last year, when it again emerged that border guards were facilitating defections. Cross-cutting security apparatus checks are one way the North Korean regime seeks to avoid outbreaks of unrest or anti-regime sentiment in the state's defense and security forces.
A source from Sinuiju in North Pyongan Province told Daily NK late last week, “Defense Security Command started to investigate the border region on the 15th of this month. The primary goal of the investigation is to uncover both smugglers acting as defection brokers and the guards who aid and abet them on the inside.” The investigating officers are currently using officials within local state organs and trading entities to help establish targets for investigation.
A source in the border city of Hyesan in Yangkang Province added that people accustomed to earning a living through smuggling are having trouble as a result of the investigation, and said that “smugglers who really are linked with defection are heading into the interior in the belief that ‘if I am caught by this one then bribes will not help me, so I’d better avoid trouble.’
Sources observe that the aim of the investigation is to cut the lines that connect the various elements that go into facilitating defection, most notably the link between smugglers and border security forces.
Responsibility for border security was transferred in April last year, and now falls under the auspices of the National Security Agency. Therefore, from a systematic perspective the current case represents an instance of military security investigating a civilian security organ. A similar event occurred in November last year, when it again emerged that border guards were facilitating defections. Cross-cutting security apparatus checks are one way the North Korean regime seeks to avoid outbreaks of unrest or anti-regime sentiment in the state's defense and security forces.
A source from Sinuiju in North Pyongan Province told Daily NK late last week, “Defense Security Command started to investigate the border region on the 15th of this month. The primary goal of the investigation is to uncover both smugglers acting as defection brokers and the guards who aid and abet them on the inside.” The investigating officers are currently using officials within local state organs and trading entities to help establish targets for investigation.
A source in the border city of Hyesan in Yangkang Province added that people accustomed to earning a living through smuggling are having trouble as a result of the investigation, and said that “smugglers who really are linked with defection are heading into the interior in the belief that ‘if I am caught by this one then bribes will not help me, so I’d better avoid trouble.’
Sources observe that the aim of the investigation is to cut the lines that connect the various elements that go into facilitating defection, most notably the link between smugglers and border security forces.
