It has been reported that a decree calling for a crackdown on defections and other activities along the border between China and North Korea was recently handed down by Kim Jong Eun, the successor to Kim Jong Il.
A source from North Korea’s Yangkang Province reported today that, “At a recent people’s unit meeting, a decree titled “The Words of Comrade Kim Jong Eun” called for strict punishment of those suspected of illegal border crossing, human trafficking, smuggling drugs and other illegal goods, and the like.”
He added, “People near the border have been harassed as a result of this decree, even after the anti-socialist inspections beginning in December of last year and March of this year.”
According to the source, there has also been increased surveillance of households missing family members considered to be defectors. He said, “Agents of the People’s Security Ministry are now investigating the disappearance of residents by checking on all of the residents in each neighborhood.”
Because of the increased tension in border areas and increased surveillance of people’s lives in response to Kim Jong Eun’s decree, citizens’ complaints have been increasing in number.
While the authorities advertise that, “Kim Jong Eun resembles General Kim Jong Il in his boldness,” citizens interpret this to mean that, “Kim Jong Eun will be much more brutal than Kim Jong Il,” according to sources.
Meanwhile, in December of last year and March of this year, intense anti-socialist inspections have led to the removal of defectors’ families to rural areas en masse. Additionally, a decree has been issued mandating that citizens suspected of making calls to outside the country be sent to reeducation camps, which are basically prisons, and their families sent to rural provinces.
