Four women in their 30s and 40s have been arrested for using Chinese mobile phones in Hoeryong City, North Hamgyong Province. The North Korean authorities are currently interrogating the women, under accusations that they have been secretly communicating with South Korea.
The Hoeryong Ministry of State Security (MSS) anti-espionage department, which is tasked with identifying anti-regime elements and those critical of the regime, has been arresting users of Chinese mobile phones as part of a systematic crackdown. Four people have already been arrested since the beginning of June.
“The four young women in their 30s and 40s that were arrested by the MSS while making international calls had not been long term phone users. This shows that the authorities are trying to set an example by punishing even the newest users,” a source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on June 14.
“The anti-espionage department is proceeding with the investigation, claiming that these women are guilty of secretly communicating with South Korea. The agents are probably fully aware that the women are just brokers who facilitate money transfers between North and South Korea, but they have reported them as espionage agents to bolster their list of achievements.”
The arrest of mobile phone users is a routine practice used to deter defections and the leakage of internal information to the outside world. The North Korean authorities believe that by blocking such leakage of information by residents in the border areas, future problems can be averted.
Kim Jong Un issued orders in May last year to treat users of Chinese mobile phones as traitors. The order stated that, ‘Those who are confirmed to have made a call to South Korea can be executed immediately,’ initially instilling fear among the residents.
But the orders have since denigrated into a ‘means of extorting money’ for agents in the border regions.
“When central instructions are handed down, the first thing the officials do is think of ways to use them to extort money. Even though the authority of the MSS has been reduced since the purge of Kim Won Hong, the agents continue to extort residents for absurd reasons,” a source in Ryanggang Province added.
“At first, the agents threaten people by saying that they will be immediately dragged off to political prison camps, and this is later followed by direct demands for bribes. The agents give some part of the bribes they receive to their superiors as a matter of process. So there are many people who are made to suffer under false accusations like the four women arrested this time.”
