Civil defense drills were recently carried out in Hyesan, Yanggang Province, Daily NK has learned.
“Hyesan is running air raid drills and evacuation drills as part of a ‘full mobilization training period’ running from Feb. 20 to Mar. 2 that’s supposed to prepare the public for war,” a reporting partner in Yanggang Province told Daily NK on Tuesday.
According to the reporting partner, Yanggang Province announced the 10-day training period, which began on Feb. 20, in line with orders received from the central government at the beginning of the month to drill people around the country for the possibility of actual fighting.
The reporting partner said that the central government’s instructions emphasized the following point: “The American imperialists and their puppets in South Korea have been increasingly crossing the line with military exercises that threaten us, so we should prepare thoroughly to be able to respond to those [exercises].”
The city of Hyesan held repeated drills several times each day in which citizens had to take cover whenever a random siren went off. And in the evening, police officers and teams of monitors patrolled the streets and villages in each area to make sure that no light could be seen in the houses.
“These are just pro forma sweeps. Given the lack of electricity and the curfew after 6 PM, many families go to bed early, which means their houses would be dark even if they didn’t put up blackout curtains. The only point seems to be stoking tensions and shutting up starving people who would otherwise complain about the lack of food,” the reporting partner said.
A Hyesan citizen spoke to Daily NK about the drills. “Each year, they beat the war drums and run frightening propaganda as if a war were about to break out. I guess we’re so desensitized by now that we don’t have any fear or terror about war. I wish a war actually did break out so that we could have a chance to go to China, rather than living like animals over here.”
Some of the city’s residents have also been complaining about how the drills are having a serious impact on their livelihoods, the reporting partner said.
“People are frustrated about having to take part in these drills when there’s so little to eat that they’re reduced to sucking on their fingers. People who are living hand to mouth are upset that the government hasn’t offered any compensation for shutting down the markets and forcing everyone to join the drills.”
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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