North Koreans across the country have been
ordered to stand by to watch a special broadcast on the 7th Party Congress
but without being notified of the exact time, Daily NK has learned.
“Yesterday [May 5], people, grouped by social organization from each
province, city, and county, were told to gather by 9a.m. [today, May 6]and stand by at event areas of state-run enterprises,” a source from Ryanggang Province told Daily NK on
Thursday.
“We were told to wait for a live broadcast from the congress on
Korean Central Television [KCTV].”
Additional sources in Ryanggang Province
corroborated this news.
The source added the order came down
directly from the Central Party, but it did not include exactly what time
the event would begin, meaning people will have to wait on site. In addition,
provincial Party committees and State Security Department personnel have been
ordered to step up Party and legal controls to ensure the event proceeds in
lockstep synchrony.
“Party cadres have been emphasizing the
existence of ‘extreme plots’ by enemy forces internally and externally to
obstruct the Party Congress,” the source said, adding some have even spoken of
precluding incidents that may involve “explosives in event halls [where people
will gather at the enterprises]” and “graffiti [speaking ill of the
leadership].”
The massive gathering and related
preparations have weighed heavy on the minds of the people, not least because
of the physically exacting toll it has taken on them. According to the source,
the tense political undercurrents enveloping the event have most anxious to see it end as quickly as possible.
