A woman in her 30s in Hyesan, Ryanggang province, was arrested by provincial state security officers on charges of leaking domestic information abroad.
According to a Daily NK source in Ryanggang province recently, the woman—identified by the pseudonym Kim—was arrested on June 7.
Provincial state security officers placed her under emergency arrest after the Ministry of State Security found evidence that she had been passing domestic information and secret materials to South Korea for years.
The basis for the Ministry of State Security’s arrest order remains unknown, but it appears her activities were discovered after someone in South Korea she regularly contacted was hacked.
North Korean authorities operate specialized hacking organizations that launch persistent cyber attacks on North Korean defectors in South Korea, as well as South Korean government and research institutions. Through these attacks, North Korea identifies which information has been leaked and arrests North Koreans involved.
State security sources say the Ministry of State Security issued Kim’s arrest order after detecting concrete evidence of her crimes through such hacking attacks.
Kim’s arrest didn’t follow the usual process. Provincial state security officers didn’t arrest her immediately upon receiving the ministry’s order, but instead staked out near her home for seven hours, waiting for her to contact South Korea.
When they detected electronic signals, eight officers on stakeout immediately forced open Kim’s door, entered her home and arrested her. “People believe they staged this to make it appear she was caught by a radio wave detector,” the source said.
The agents who raided Kim’s home searched for about three hours, seizing one Chinese-made mobile phone and 50,000 Chinese yuan (nearly $7,000) in cash.
No forgiveness
Brought to the provincial Ministry of State Security branch and subjected to intense questioning, she confessed to passing domestic information to South Korea since March 2022.
“She’s still detained at the provincial branch, and she’s unlikely to be released since ministry headquarters issued the arrest order,” the source said. “The authorities won’t forgive anyone involved in leaking information and regard any contact with South Korea as spying.”
North Korean authorities have intensified surveillance and crackdowns in border regions, treating contact with South Korea as a grave offense regardless of circumstances.
“People who use Chinese-made mobile phones have been nervous since this incident,” the source said. “People connected to Kim are trembling, but none of her acquaintances have been arrested or questioned so far.”
