The North Korean authorities have moved to reinforce security and monitoring along the border with China and in the people’s lives under an order which local government representatives have emphasized was issued in the name of Kim Jong Eun, according to sources.
A source from Yangkang Province reported today, “On November 18th, an order from Kim Jong Eun came down and the guarding of the border region has been strengthened,” predicting, “Since Kim Jong Eun’s order said, ‘Sound a horn at the border as a demonstration’, now, just like at the time of the late 1990s’ inspections by the Defense Security Command, it seems that there may be the sound of gunfire.”
According to the source, inspection units consisting of National Security Agency (NSA) and People’s Safety Ministry (PSM) personnel and cadres from the Central Committee of the Party have been dispatched to the border regions, and border guards have been reinforced with agents from the provincial NSA and PSM charged with tracking down people trying to cross the border illegally or attempting to defect to China.
In addition, the monitoring of residents in the border regions has also been reinforced, according to the source. As per Kim Jong Eun’s latest order, this has been done by changing the existing “five household monitoring system” into a “three household monitoring system.”
Another source from North Hamkyung Province reported to The Daily NK on the 12th, “In an Onsung people’s unit meeting, the chairwoman said, ‘Since the maneuvers of the reactionaries and spies are getting so serious in this area, comrade Kim Jong Eun’s decree has been handed down, instructing us that, ‘Three households as a team have to set up a tight system to monitor each other and report any strange things to the authorities.’”
Apparently, the chairwoman of the people’s unit continued to say that “although ten years have passed since the March of Tribulation, there are still more defectors than deaths among the missing people. Therefore, comrade Kim Jong Eun’s decree has been issued.”
The chairwoman explained the details of the three-household monitoring system; in a three-household team, residents must watch for whether or not there are any strangers in other member’s houses, or if someone goes missing or they note any changes to other homes’ family members, they should report them immediately to the NSA, PSM, or the people’s unit chairwoman.
The chairwoman reiterated, “In this tense situation, spies or reactionary elements tend to utilize our slack space. We should live always with tension and set up the discipline to report any tiny strangeness.”
Meanwhile, the North Hamkyung Province source also reported the reaction to the decree; typically unimpressed. “Citizens complaint about it a lot, asking, ‘It is hard enough to live now; how can we live watching each other?’ or ‘The Youth Captain is irritating the people even more harshly.”
Another source from Yangkang Province also released local complaints against Kim Jong Eun, saying, “Stories mocking Kim Jong Eun’s inability are circulating;” adding, “For example, ‘If he is more incompetent than his father, how can Chosun go on?’ or ‘Looking at history, in the moments immediately before the end, they tend to be more terrible than ever.’”
