North Korean residents living near the Chinese border are using fixed-rate international calling cards to make contact with the outside world, an inside source has reported. The move comes amidst increased state use of phone jamming and detection equipment, seemingly in a bid to stem defection and the flow of information across the porous Sino-North Korean border.
A Daily NK source from North Hamkyung Province revealed on the 27th, “Communication over Chinese-made cellphones is jammed, and there is pressure on the border. This has meant that traders and people with family in South Korea haven’t been able to communicate for some time, something that has been causing quite a lot of problems. Some people are now turning to international calling cards from China as a way to communicate, as these are not affected by the jammers.”
A range of sources have confirmed the dispatch of substantial numbers of cadres and investigation teams made up of students affiliated with the Ministry of People’s Security to the border in early January. In tandem with increasing phone jamming and detection equipment usage, this has made it increasingly difficult to communicate.
However, the use of Chinese-made international calling cards has emerged as a way for citizens and border guards who make their living from trade and remittances, predominantly from the South, to circumvent the repressive controls.
“The cards are purchased from ethnic Koreans in China. People report that they are out of the reach of the jammers and the connection is good. This kind of news spreads quickly, and the number of users is rising,” the source said.
“A border patrol guard I know personally told me that he was able to make calls after an ethnic Korean came across the river to show him how to use the cards. He said it’s amazing; he didn’t get caught even though he talked for more than 20 minutes in the early evening, which is when the jamming is at its most active.”
As the only simple method of overcoming the present restrictions, demand for the cards is set to keep rising, the source predicted.
Alas, however, nobody expects their battle with the North Korean state to end there. “I’ve heard people complain that the authorities are going to catch on that these cards are being used, and just find other ways to make our lives difficult,” the source commented.
