The North Korean authorities have been pushing the concept of expedited membership of the Chosun Workers’ Party as a reward for border guards who capture would-be defectors and those who aid and abet them. The move is designed to incentivize members of the border forces to enforce prohibitions against defection, rather than turning a blind eye to the activity in exchange for bribes.
A source from Hyesan in Yangkang Province told Daily NK on the 20th, “People who worked with soldiers from the Border Guards to aid defection are being taken for questioning one by one by the National Security Agency and Ministry of People’s Safety,” adding, “Border guards who would once have taken bribes to help defection have recently found renewed enthusiasm for arresting defectors.”
“It has become much harder to cross the border for smuggling or to defect,” the source also noted, “Soldiers have gotten keener on trying to catch defectors because the Upper (the North Korean authorities) is saying that those who report or arrest them will be given expedited entry into the Party. Indeed, some are even pretending to help in order to arrest.”
However, sources say the authorities have had a policy of rewarding those who shop defectors with entry into the Party for some years. Simply, since the dawn of the Kim Jong Eun era the policy has been used and promoted to excess, such that its value as a “reward” has diminished drastically.
A source from Hoiryeong said, “I heard personally that the order to ‘guarantee Party entry for seizing defectors’ had been handed down. What it means is that they won’t ask about past instances of bribe-taking if soldiers now capture defectors or those who aid them.”
“Smugglers who travel to and from China are waiting to see how this develops,” the source added. “There may well be an effect for a while, but it is going to be hard to eliminate bribery when guards also have to eat.”
