Crackdowns and inspections targeting the consumption or distribution of foreign content, including South Korean movies and dramas, have suddenly intensified in North Hamgyong Province after a period of inactivity.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Daily NK source in North Hamgyong Province said Monday that members of an enforcement group tasked with curbing non-socialist behavior “have recently been inspecting homes in Hoeryong’s neighborhood watch units to determine if they are watching impure videos.” He said people are inconvenienced “because the inspectors barge in unannounced twice or thrice a day.”
He continued, “Public discontent is especially growing because the inspectors break down your door if nobody opens it right away when they knock or act as if you’ve committed some sort of felony.”
The source said the intensified inspection campaign is due to an order from the national headquarters of the so-called unified command on non-socialist and anti-socialist behavior issued in mid-May to “Unified Command 82” branches nationwide instructing them to “root out anti-socialist and non-socialist phenomena, especially the watching of impure videos.”
The national headquarters may have received a report of an incident involving the large-scale distribution of content from the outside world or that a growing number of people are seeking foreign videos, though nothing has been confirmed.
With North Koreans already on high alert after seeing the punishments handed out after the law to “eradicate reactionary thought and culture” was passed in late 2020, the inspections have so far caught few people.
However, more and more people feel ill at ease amid the continued inspections, with locals startled every time somebody knocks on the door. In particular, tales of young children mimicking their elders’ fearful responses to the crackdown evoke frustration and regret.
“Recently, stories have been going around of even two-year-old children putting their fingers to their lips to shush everyone when somebody knocks on the door,” the source said. “Locals express frustration that even children now have to live in an adult world.
“Even I unknowingly feel like a criminal during inspections since the inspectors talk down to ordinary people and treat them like lawbreakers,” he continued, adding: “Most people say these sorts of inspections psychologically torment and emotionally wound the public.”
Daily NK reported on May 27 that in Hoeryong, North Hamgyong Province and other areas along the North Korea-China border, more and more young people are seeking the hit South Korean film “Exhuma,” which has passed 10 million in ticket sales since its debut in February.
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