There are indications that officials from the Ministry of State Security carrying out a large-scale “mop-up operation” and “campaign of extermination” against North Koreans who use Chinese mobile phones near the border with China have recently released some of their detainees.
“Two individuals, including one surnamed Choi in his 40s, were recently released by the Ministry of State Security, which had arrested them in Hoeryong for using Chinese cell phones. The ministry had made a big to-do over their arrest, as if they were important spies, only to quietly release them now,” a source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Monday.
According to the source, the North Korean authorities’ crackdown on users of Chinese mobile phones along the border failed to achieve the desired results and turned out to be little more than a perfunctory sweep.
That is because North Koreans in the region adjoining China have long made use of Chinese mobile phones, and also because even the organizations responsible for the crackdown are often complicit in the practice.
The result was that plans to carry out a raid or arrest suspects were commonly leaked in advance, the source said, and even those who were arrested by the Ministry of State Security for using a Chinese cell phone were often able to secure release or avoid punishment through bribes or by drawing upon their connections.
When the North Korean government closed the border with China in January 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, it reportedly ordered the Ministry of State Security to bring in everyone using Chinese cell phones and those connected with them in what is known as a “mop-up operation.”
The Ministry of State Security instructed branches in the border region to haul in anyone who contacted the outside world — no matter the reason — on charges of espionage.
“There are currently several hundred people in Hoeryong who have been arrested by the Ministry of State Security,” the source said.
Punishment grew stiffer as well. In no small number of cases, properties were confiscated, and offenders and their families were banished to the countryside. In some cases, offenders were sent to political prison camps or even put to death.
But recently, the source said, the authorities released some apprehended individuals after just confirming they were not spies. At the time of their arrest, the authorities had charged them with espionage and illegal communication with the outside world and accused them of disseminating secret information about the country. Their release amounts to the admission that those charges were false.
Choi, who was reportedly a remittance broker, was subjected to more than a year of harsh interrogation and investigation following his arrest in February 2021, but the authorities ultimately determined he was not a spy.
Choi said he had only communicated with people outside the country as part of his job of transferring money. The Chinese mobile phone he had used did not contain any internal documents or information about market prices.
While Choi has regained his political freedom, he will have to endure physical pain for the remainder of his life. Brutal treatment by his interrogators and guards over the course of the investigation rendered his left leg mostly unserviceable.
“Since the Ministry of State Security is responsible for political investigations, hardly anyone comes out of there in one piece. And given the sensitive nature of this issue — [the authorities] have dubbed Chinese mobile phone users as ‘traitors to the nation’ — he’s just lucky to have gotten out alive,” the source said.
“Most North Koreans on the border talk on the phone to people outside the country, but you can’t just kill them all. Considering that excessive punishment could backfire, the authorities appear to be releasing petty offenders after roughing them up a bit,” the source added.
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