It has been decided that a total of around 300 Yangkang Province families are to be sent into rural exile within the province as part of follow-up measures to the ‘Storm Trooper Unit’ inspections that swept the border area for a month in August and early September.
A source from the province revealed the news to The Daily NK yesterday, saying that a meeting of Party and security heads was held on Saturday, during which it was concluded that “By the end of October, around 300 families will be exiled.”
A large number of Yangkang Province’s highest Party officials were in attendance at the meeting, including Chief Secretary Kim Hi Taek, who was responsible for the Storm Trooper Unit inspections in the region, the provincial National Security Agency chief, chief prosecutor, People’s Safety Ministry head and administrative head.
The assembled Party heavyweights apparently decided on the families to be banished and other issues pertaining to the inspection period, after which the decisions were conveyed to city and county-level cadres further down the chain.
“Due to concerns about escape, the names of the 300 families have yet to be made public. However, from the night of the provincial Party decision, the 16th, the rumor has been spreading everywhere in Yangkang Province, and the unease of people who were even investigated just once during that period is very real,” the source commented.
Families came under attack during the inspections for a number of things, specifically: ▲ use of Chinese cell phones; ▲ production and sale of drugs; ▲ watching of South Korean films and dramas; ▲ smuggling; and ▲ defection.
“There are people who have already decided to defect because of worries about getting exiled,” according to the source.
Meanwhile, the total number of banished families in North Hamkyung Province is apparently at least 150.
A source from the province told The Daily NK, “40 families were hit with domestic exile in North Hamkyung Province during the inspection period, and since then an additional 110 families have been slated to go.”
