The scene of separated family reunions, held yesterday for the first time in 3 years and 4 months. Families from North and South, reunited amidst floods of tears. Yet some look on with sharp eyes. These are agents from the North Korean State Security Department. Though they are, of course, disguised as staff.

Their main task: surveillance. Just as North Korea generally watches its citizens’ every move, so these agents survey what separated family members say and do upon meeting family from the South. North Korea is reticent to take part in such events because Pyongyang fears that South Korea will learn of its systemic weaknesses as a result.

Defectors say that North Korea regards meetings with South Koreans as tantamount to engaging with the enemy, so the State Security Department dispatches anti-espionage personnel to watch over the reunions. Of course the North Korean photographers are agents, but so are the guides, waiters, and waitresses as well.

This veritable army of overseers listens in on conversations between families. Prior to the reunions, reunion participants are “educated” on what not to say. Each room where reunions take place is bugged. When things get underway, agents are posted everywhere to observe whether North Koreans behave according to the guidelines they have been given, and whether they do anything that might be prohibited. Naturally, they are on the look out for people surreptitiously passing over information.

After the events are over, agents hold one-on-one self-criticism sessions with participants during which they discuss what attendees did right and wrong. Those who spoke well of the Supreme Leader and regime are praised, while those who did not face a dressing down.

One high-level defector with experience in the security forces told Daily NK on the 21^st, “We installed bugs at every table and instructed people beforehand that ‘we will be able to hear it all so don't say anything odd.’ This makes people watch their words and incorporate propaganda about the system into every sentence.”

52-year old defector Kim Mi Soon agreed. “I heard from a neighbor who was once part of the reunions that she constantly praised the regime because she had been told to do so by the State Security Department, but then all she heard from them afterward was that it wasn't enough."