North Korea is ordering diplomatic consulates to thoroughly respond to frequent defections by diplomatic personnel and workers living abroad, a source in Pyongyang told Daily NK on Tuesday.
Speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, the source said North Korea is issuing two or more orders a week regarding policies aimed at preventing defections.
In the orders, the authorities are making constant mention of the recent disappearance of the family of a diplomat working at a North Korean consulate in Russia. The orders are calling for changes to the management system for overseas personnel that would enable the state to ascertain their location at all times and respond immediately to problems.
Specifically, the orders are aimed at bolstering the existing three-ply system of surveillance — that is to say, three sets of eyes watching an individual — into a four-ply system, and increasing inspections from once a day to three times per day.
In the orders, the authorities discuss the deployment of more Ministry of State Security agents overseas, along with more investigations into what overseas North Koreans are saying and thinking, and when and where they are saying or thinking it. They also labeled people who remain silent a cause for concern, ordering agents to get them to talk and find out what they are really thinking, the source said.
“The authorities are issuing frequent orders imploring everyone to do their best to break the vicious circle of defections by not only having more security agents on the ground, but also by having all overseas officials and workers playing roles beyond that of the security agents. They are calling for making the management of ideological tendencies [of overseas personnel] a priority, believing that one or two defections can lead to a wave of defections.”
North Korea also ordered that overseas consulates quickly complete lists of diplomatic personnel and family members to be repatriated or replaced, the source said.
“The authorities seriously consider whether each and every person deployed overseas has healthy ideological tendencies, as well as their accomplishments and skills. The government plans to complete the lists [of personnel to be repatriated or replaced] by mid-July and complete personnel changes by the end of the year when decisions [on the lists] are issued in the fall.
“Overseas personnel are always under an atmosphere of insecurity when these kinds of orders or policies are issued because they never know when they’ll get called back home.”
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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