Scammers exploit North Korean defector families, charging up to $14,500 to locate repatriated relatives
Con artists in Hyesan are promising to find defectors and secure prison camp releases, leaving families homeless after they sell houses to raise funds...
Hyesan excludes unmarried workers from China dispatch, using families as ‘hostages’ against defection
Ryanggang province authorities now require overseas candidates to be married with children, tightening selection criteria as regime seeks to prevent defections by holding family...
North Korean remittance brokers disguise themselves as traveling salespeople to evade crackdowns
Operators in border regions carry sweets and underwear to mask their use of Chinese mobile phones for money transfers, as state security intensifies surveillance...
Pyongyang orders hillside tomb removal along Chinese border, imposing fines up to $280
Authorities in provinces along the Chinese border are levying fines up to $280 on families with hillside graves, citing damage to national image and...
N. Korea bans trade officials from carrying cash abroad as foreign currency controls tighten
The North Korean authorities have intensified controls on trade officials who carry out or bring in foreign exchange, such as dollars or Chinese yuan,...
North Korean security agents raid homes of past Chinese phone users in border regions
North Korean state security agents in border regions are raiding the homes of people with records of having used Chinese-made mobile phones in the...
Smuggling crackdown leaves hungry border guards stealing from farms instead of taking bribes
Soldiers of the 25th Brigade of North Korea's border guard based in Ryanggang province have gone on a rampage of crop theft this harvest...
Kim Jong Un orders ideological crackdown on citizens hoping for outside help
North Korea has begun activities to once again imprint the regime's policy of "self-reliance," ordering security and administrative agencies at all levels to reinforce...
News of North Korean soldier’s defection spreads quietly along China border
News of a North Korean soldier's recent defection to the South is quietly spreading among people living along the North Korea-China border. Due to...
N. Korea cracks down on people using Chinese contacts to smuggle goods
North Korean authorities are investigating dozens of people in North Pyongan province who allegedly smuggled goods into the country through ethnic Chinese intermediaries, creating...
