The North Korean authorities have ordered the
deployment of inspection teams along its borders to tighten surveillance and stamp
out people’s attempts to escape the country. They have also increased personnel
in the area and introduced cutting-edge surveillance equipment, according to a local
source.
“The Central Party recently handed down
orders instructing border patrol forces to secure ironclad fortification on the
borders in time for the farming period and the dry season,” a source from Yangkang
Province told Daily NK on Tuesday. “There was great emphasis on strengthening
surveillance organization and patrol duties, as well as having strict control
over people’s movements.”
People in farming areas are busy
cultivating small individual plots during this season, constantly moving around hilly areas and the banks of the river from dawn to dusk; needless to say, this makes
monitoring their activities far more difficult. Moreover, low-water levels at the Tumen River
due to the dry season drive up the potential for defections and put security agents on high alert.
“Because of the new directive, the guards have
installed inspection posts with telescopes in various places in order to watch
over the movements of anyone approaching the river and even those going about
their daily farming,” the source said. “At night they work in groups of three,
and these dozens of teams patrol the riverbanks on 15-minute rotations.”
This high-tech equipment has made placing
overseas phone calls all the more difficult. “The
authorities have even installed solar energy batteries to continue operating
these mobile phone radio wave detectors and signal jammers in the face of power shortages,”
he explained. “A few days ago, someone
was caught red handed for talking to a relative in Canada for 10 minutes because
everything was recorded on the detector.”
Security agents carry out inspections of residents
from other districts and regions around the clock and inminban
[people’s unit] heads and members of the Chosun Democratic Women’s Union have
been mobilized to step up surveillance on those within their jurisdiction during the
day.
According to the source, the measures have ushered in a host of opinions from the public. Many justifiably question “why the authorities are monitoring their own
people if the goal is to combat spies,” while others joke about how “thanks to the guards
we don’t need to lock our doors when we leave the house.”
