In a bid to strengthen regulation on its
citizens’ mobility, specifically from accessing border regions, Ministry of
People’s Security units in every region have deployed “Rapid Reaction Forces [RSF]”. These units are primarily tasked with conducting
invasive searches at random on passenger trains and around main railway hubs.
“RRF have recently started to make
abrupt and random appearances in passenger trains and stations,” a source from
South Hamkyung Province told Daily NK on April 8th. “These units are special
inspection teams composed of MPS agents at the provincial, county, and
municipal levels as well as MPS agents from the railway safety division.”
When the teams enter the train cars, the
source described the scene as “mayhem,” with multiple inspection teams — each
consisting of two or three people — abruptly barging into the train, checking people’s identification cards, travel passes, and even luggage. The fear the
group instills is palpable for anyone in the vicinity, regardless of rank. “Even
the MPS agents who routinely patrol the cars get nervous when someone
hollers, ‘The RRF are here!’” he explained.
Perpetual delays at train stations through the nation–especially Hoochang Station, Kumsusan Station, and Gilju Station– facilitate this process. “The RRF board the train, block the doors, and
inspect travel passes and luggage. Then, they violently haul off anyone who
bribed MPS agents to board the train without the proper travel documentation,”
he said.
The orchestration of these units stems from
myriad failed measures implemented by the state to preclude residents from
traveling to border regions. When these did little to curtail illegal boarding by residents, who bribed MPS agents to ignore their absence of travel papers, the state upped the ante by sending out RRF units.
In fact, most residents traveling to Pyongyang or
border areas do so illegally, as travel passes are extremely difficult to come by: the application process is an arduous one subject to a great deal of scrutiny.
Funerals, marriage, or special visits to relatives are acceptable reasons, but
do not invariably guarantee travel rights.
“MPS train agents are usually ruthlessly
mean to passengers, but when the RRF show up, they suddenly become overly
nice, helping passengers hide. Of course, this is because they can’t
risk their illicit practices being exposed,” he explained, adding that unfortunately, the scores left within the proximity of the RRF are hauled off during each raid. On the other hand, the agents raking in kickbacks off this system are never targeted by the RRF.
“RRF like these have conducted
intense searches in trains bound for Pyongyang since around 2005 under the
pretext of ‘protecting the capital,’ but now they’ve widened their scope to encompass trains headed for border areas,” he said. “Those caught by these units are automatically taken to a ‘travelers collecting point,’ where
they are forced to perform manual labor for a period of one to three months as
punishment.”
