North Korea has recently been calling on residents of regions along the border with China to strictly comply with the country’s emergency quarantine law and to follow orders from the border patrol, Daily NK has learned.
According to a Daily NK source in Yanggang Province on Friday, North Korea issued an order to border regions on Nov. 15 demanding that there be “no incidents or accidents this winter” through “strict compliance” with the emergency quarantine law “to avoid harm coming to people who approach the border without a reason.”
The order also called on officials and residents of border regions to follow the orders and restrictions set by the border patrol.
The source explained that the authorities issued the order because of a previous altercation between a local resident who attempted to approach the border area of Hyesan and border patrol soldiers who tried to stop her.
The individual in question, a resident of Hyegang-dong, Hyesan, was stopped by soldiers with the border patrol as she tried to enter the border region around lunch time on Nov. 10 to do laundry. The woman was stopped because she had no permit from the head of her neighborhood watch unitNeighborhood watch units (inminban, people's units) are Nort... More, or inminban.
However, the woman refused to follow the soldiers’ commands, loudly protesting about how she “couldn’t do what she pleased even in front of her own home.” She continued to argue with the soldiers, and in the end, she threatened them with the washing paddle she was carrying.
The situation eventually devolved into mutual violence as the soldiers “mercilessly” beat the woman with their weapons.
Ultimately, Pyongyang received a report of the incident, resulting in yet another order bolstering restrictions on residents in border regions, said the source.
“[The authorities seem to be] intensifying restrictions on residents of the border region, citing the emergency quarantine law,” he said. “People are venting their discontent with this, saying that ‘it appears that in the eyes of the state, people in the border region are spies or reactionaries. How else could they possibly intensify restrictions and crackdowns on the border region like this?’”
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