North Korea has ordered each province to hold memorial events for the 11th anniversary of the death of Kim Jong Il and to take special precautions to prevent incidents, Daily NK has learned.
“The Central Committee has emphasized that all incidents must be strenuously prevented to ensure that no illegal activities take place in the border region during the memorial period,” a source in Yanggang Province told Daily NK on Wednesday.
In consequence, the source said, the provincial party committee in Yanggang Province ordered various teams on Dec. 10 to organize events including research presentations, field trips to “revolutionary battlefields,” retrospectives on Kim Jong Il and seminars about Kim’s revolutionary activities to set the proper mood.
The provincial party committee also instructed that group lectures be held for party members, workers and officials in training as a way to commemorate Kim Jong Il in a somber atmosphere until Dec. 17, the anniversary of his death.
In particular, the provincial party committee stressed that the public should refrain from holding private parties for drinking or eating or other purposes and that alcohol should not be sold either at private homes or at rationing centers during the memorial period.
The provincial party committee reminded the police and state security agencies of their great responsibility, instructing them to treat anyone who creates social problems or disturbs order during this period as a political problem and to mete out harsh punishment.
Since Yanggang Province is on the border with China, the provincial party committee stressed the need for security forces to be on the lookout for illegal border crossings and smuggling during the memorial period.
“The provincial party committee compared illegal border crossings or other incidents during the memorial period to reactionary acts of betrayal against the leadership of Comrade Kim Jong Un. The committee warned that any such incidents that occur along the border with China during the period will be regarded as issues of political and ideological corruption and will face stern legal consequences, regardless of the individual or group that commits them,” the source said.
The authorities also said that negligence or failure to prevent such incidents would also be dealt with under severe “political standards.”
While giving these orders, the provincial party committee instructed that the party’s political programs should be carried out more rigorously than ever during the memorial period and emphasized that the party “trusts that officials in the police and state security apparatus will work with the military to firmly carry out the sacred mission of border security and perfectly implement the party’s instructions under any circumstances.”
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
