Leniency for family members of select defectors

The family members of North Korean
diplomats or high-ranking Pyongyang Party cadres who defect, in contrast to
past practices, are not being sent to prison camps or put under exile but
instead are kept only under surveillance. This comes as Kim Jong Un attempts to
appease residents in Pyongyang after coming into power, Daily NK has learned. 

“Unlike before (Kim Jong Il’s leadership),
the families of ranking Pyongyang officials who escape the country are not sent
off to prison camps or exiled to the mountains, but instead they work at
state enterprises,” a source from Pyongyang currently residing in China’s
Dandong told Daily NK on Wednesday. “They are not kicked out from the Party or
dismissed from their posts; they don’t officially get branded as being a
defector family either.”
 

He added that although policies refer to
defections as being the equivalent to treason, the families of cadres who defect
North Korea are left alone, noting that, unsurprisingly, the change has not gone unnoticed by residents of Pyongyang.”  
 

“The number of various cadres defecting is
on the rise, but I think it was determined that indiscriminate penalization of
family members could worsen public sentiment and hurt the ‘Republic,’” he said.
 

Empirically, families of defectors in North
Korea appear to lead stable lives in Pyongyang, but bubbling under the surface
is the stress of constant surveillance and phone taps by the State Security
Department (SSD).

“Families of traitors (defectors) are merely used as propaganda for
the state, which claims they are able to lead stable lives thanks to the
benevolence of the leader, but they never know when they’re going to be
executed,” the source explained.
 

As of late, more officials at North Korea’s
missions overseas or trade workers plan group defections with their families
due to the cycle of purges, executions, and ensuing anxiety rife within the upper echelons of power in the North. Others feel
threatened while carrying out overseas posts and defect rather than return to
their homeland, according to the source.
 

When those with families in Pyongyang or
relatives stationed at overseas missions hear of officials’ returns being delayed
or that they’ve gone missing, an increasingly common response is, “another one fled,” according to the source.
 

In such cases, the SSD privately meets the families or
relatives of the cadres who have defected, pressuring them to convince the
escapees to return under the pretext of forgiveness by the state.  
 

“The degree of leniency offered to each
family depends on whether they live in or outside of Pyongyang and whether they
are family of cadre or regular citizens,” the source asserted, explaining that
in cases involving high-ranking Party cadres from Pyongyang or other major
hubs, authorities try to resolve and discuss the issue within the SSD and
persuade them to show more tolerance in a bid to “preserve loyalty.”  
 

When regular citizens from provincial areas
defect, however, the SSD and Ministry of People’s Security agents storm into
their homes, shouting at and assaulting everyone in their path.
 

Moreover, “If a defector family member goes missing
for even a day, the relevant inminban [people’s unit] leader and
state-enterprise cadres undergo–at the very least– thorough castigation in criticism sessions,”
the source concluded.