In response to the “increasingly tense state of international affairs,” the North Korean authorities recently passed down new orders to strengthen security along the border, Daily NK has learned.
On Dec. 27, a source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK that “on Dec. 21, the Ministry of State Security assembled all of the border patrol unit commanders stationed along the border and issued special orders to adopt an all-time high level of alert for security along the border.”
A speaker from the Ministry of State Security lectured about recent affairs on the Korean Peninsula and emphasized the need to “pour our energy into strengthening the borders more than ever before in response to the unprecedentedly vicious machinations of the imperialists and reactionaries attempting to isolate and suffocate our republic and destroy our accomplishments.”
This phrasing suggests that the ministry is trying to justify the heightened security as a response to international tensions and place the blame on external affairs.
The Ministry of State Security appears to have used the end of the year as a catalyst to strengthen border security while simultaneously introducing plans to deploy special task forces to monitor border patrol units for abnormal activity.
The orders also leveled criticism at border patrol unit commanders and soldiers who were “going astray” by sympathizing with local residents engaged in illegal activities like smuggling and helping people defect.
Commanders and soldiers were sternly warned that if they encountered these kinds of illegal activities, they were to immediately handle the incidents in accordance with the law, regardless of the motives or identities of those involved.
In other words, if border patrol soldiers were found to be complicit in people’s “reactionary activities,” they would be swiftly discharged and branded as unqualified to serve as sentries on the border outpost line, as well as be subject to social or administrative punishments.
Additionally, the Ministry of State Security warned that if units were found to not be properly watching out for defections, smuggling, and other illicit activities, all personnel at the outpost would be rotated out. The commander in charge, political workers, and security workers attached to the unit would also all be considered guilty by association and bear the consequences.
The ministry also showed its intent to target anti-state activity inside China. The orders specifically emphasized the need for soldiers to carefully monitor such activities and report incidents in detail to their superior officers.
The orders instructed border patrol units “to deal with illegal activity committed by our people along with incidents happening in China.” Soldiers were also ordered to “observe and record the minute details – even clothing – of anyone on the Chinese side of the border who spent too long standing or looking towards North Korea, and to create a system to report these observations to the special task forces.”
The Ministry of State Security speaker told officers “that ignoring something as small as the sound of a pin dropping on the other side of the border could lead to an incredibly dangerous incident. We must not turn a blind eye to our brother nation, China.”
“The atmosphere along the border will be as frosty as the Yalu River for the time being given that the Ministry of State Security announced that special task forces will inspect the work of border patrol units,” the source predicted.
Translated by Rose Adams. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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