North Korean authorities recently held a lecture for people in the Sino-North Korean border region that officially announced the creation of an agency that will monitor and control “non-socialist and anti-socialist behavior” while calling on everyone to participate in an operation to “sweep away” such elements.
“A political lecture was held for people along the [Sino-North Korean] border in Hoeryong on Mar. 7,” a North Hamgyong Province-based source told Daily NK yesterday. “The lecture emphasized that everyone needs to participate in the struggle to suppress and eliminate anti-socialist and non-socialist acts.”
The lecturer claimed that “mercilessly sweeping away all sorts of anti-socialist and non-socialist acts that are appearing with intensity throughout society is a vital and serious socio-political issue that is key to protecting the socialist system,” according to the source.
The lecturer noted that a “combined command” had been created after the second plenary meeting of the Eighth Party Congress as part of efforts to thoroughly rid the country of anti-socialist and non-socialist behavior. In short, the lecturer made clear that this new organization would monitor such activity and deal out punishments in order to protect North Korean-style socialism.
According to the source, the lecturer further claimed that there has been a “dramatic rise in anti-socialist and non-socialist behavior” in the midst of the country facing “disorder in its legal system,” and proceeded to list anti-socialist and non-socialist behavior found recently throughout the country.
Along with the prevalence of drug use and adherence to superstitions, the lecturer claimed that there have been cases of people who have committed crimes after being “seduced by religion and superstition.” The lecturer also claimed that there has been a drastic rise in murders and burglaries, which have “damaged society’s development” and “tarred public sentiment.”
The lecturer went on to claim that “there has been a deeply concerning increase in criminal behavior among women and minors,” and that “anti-socialist and non-socialist behaviors are polluting the new generation and putting [our] future at risk.”
The lecturer further stated that, most of the time, “young people are the ones who are becoming seduced by bad propaganda publications and are either using the way of speaking of the puppets [South Korea] or imitating such a way of speaking.” According to the lecturer, there are many cases where “young people are committing various crimes, including murders and burglaries, and using illicit drugs.”
The lecturer further stated that anti-socialist and non-socialist behaviors – including gambling, family in-fighting, the production and illegal sale of counterfeit currency, loans with excessively high interest rates, the production of medical products and other products, illegal medical treatments, and people selling goods out of their vehicles – have emerged in almost all areas of life in North Korea.
The lecturer concluded by saying that people should “clearly understand that committing anti-socialist and non-socialist behaviors will lead you to act against the Party and motherland, which birthed and nurtured you,” and thus should “never engage” in such acts.
Daily NK understands that the activities of the “anti-socialist and non-socialist combined command” are taking their cue from the “anti-reactionary thought law” passed in December of last year. The combined command appears to be focused on implementing a variety of measures to prevent people from “breaking away ideologically” through contact with “foreign culture,” including South Korean movies, dramas and music.
