A North Korean ballistic missile on display during the country's Victory Day parade in 2013. (Wikimedia Commons)

North Korea’s Ministry of Social Security is secretly considering plans to replace populations living near Strategic Force bases or sensitive “special zones,” Daily NK has learned.

A Daily NK source in North Korea said Friday that the Ministry of Social Security issued an order to relevant provincial branches on Sept. 12 calling on them to secretly review the documents of local residents “for efforts to carry out a complete replacement of populations in special zones near the Strategic Forces since the adoption of legislation promulgating the country’s nuclear weapon policy.”

The measure appears to be the result of the greater importance North Korea now puts on protecting military secrets regarding nuclear-armed combat units such as the Strategic Forces since the country legislated its nuclear policy during the recent seventh session of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly.

The source said the order to review activities for a sweeping replacement of residents living near Strategic Forces bases and related special zones is the first of its kind since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un came to power.

The source said within the military, staff departments of Strategic Forces units ordered the construction and inspection of new electrified fences and guideposts around special zones. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Social Security ordered the social security bureaus of relevant regions to consider replacing “problematic” individuals who live near special zones.

Regional police offices that received the secret order are reportedly saying the measure seemingly calls for organizing residents to bolster security in line with the elevated status of the Strategic Forces — which deals with nuclear weapons — and the branch’s subordinate units in the wake of legislation promulgating the country’s nuclear weapons policy.

In fact, the provincial police agencies reportedly received concrete orders to examine the residential registration documents, census information and past “tendencies” of residents living near Strategic Forces bases and special zones, as well as to investigate the birth statuses and social statuses of the paternal and maternal sides of their families all the way down to fifth cousins.

Regional police offices are reportedly considering a plan that would “unconditionally” add residents judged to be “ideologically impure” or having lived “unhealthy lives” to a list of people to be relocated, including people with defectors to South Korea in their families, malcontents, “unemployed good-for-nothings,” ex-cons who have done stints of forced labor, draft dodgers and deserters.

Even though North Korea ordered that the effort be carried out in strict secrecy, people living near Strategic Forces bases and special zones have already heard rumors of the move from different sources, and are reportedly expressing disquiet.

A source said many people are worrying that they could be forced to “turn their backs on the birthplaces and homes they love,” with the authorities driving them to “unfamiliar, unknown” regions and places, “since they say they will forcefully move people or replace populations based on three months of residential registration documents.”

Meanwhile, the authorities will reportedly carry out the Ministry of Social Security’s order over three months, from the end of this month to the end of year, thoroughly selecting individuals to be moved based on their residential registration documents, family registers and evaluations of the activities in political organizations.

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