A source says North Korean authorities are intensifying their criticism of users of Chinese-made mobile phones in regions along the country’s border with China, labeling them “tools of the enemy.”
A source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Wednesday that the authorities recently held a lecture in Hoeryong on the theme, “Users of Chinese-made Mobile Phones are Anti-State Criminals and Cat’s Paws of the Enemy.” He said a district security guidance officer conducted the lecture.
Daily NK previously reported that North Korea had been encouraging users of Chinese-made mobile phones to turn themselves in and confess, even as it poured scorn on them, referring to them as “human trash.”
North Korea has been conducting sweeping “mop-up operations” and “wars of extermination” against people who communicate with the outside world since the country closed the China-North Korea border in January 2020 following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, people have continued to communicate with the outside world, apparently prompting the authorities to lay down the law once again.
In fact, at the lecture, the speakers said the people are marching together as one to achieve the “lofty goals presented during the Fourth Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee,” but “human trash” continues to emerge who — like “thieving cats” — hide and use foreign mobile phones.
The lecturers said these people are “failing to come to their senses,” even though the authorities have conducted several “political efforts for the public” to get individuals who continue to use or hide illegal mobile phones to turn themselves in and confess.
In particular, the authorities used the lectures to drum up hostility towards users of Chinese-made mobile phones.
Specifically, the lecturer said such individuals unreservedly engaged in acts of treason that betray their country and the people, “seduced by a few dollars thrown their way by enemies.” They called on people to wage an “uncompromising” struggle against users of foreign-made mobile phones, and to wage an “intense public struggle” so that the “human trash” can no longer show their faces.
Even as the lecture once again stressed “voluntarily turning yourself in,” it also stressed the duty to report on other people, pointing to the need to “awaken relatives and comrades.” This is a typical North Korean agit-prop method that calls on everyone to take part in ideological education efforts while emphasizing hostility toward the enemy.
The lecturer also made an effort to generate fear, too.
The source said the lecturer ended with threats, namely, that there was no coming back for the countless people who were busted by “legal agencies” for using Chinese-made mobile phones, and that the “mop-up operation” would continue until it has caught every last offender.
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