The Ministry of Social Security recently issued a special order regarding homeless beggars — or kkotjebi — who have sneaked into Pyongyang, Daily NK has learned.
According to a source in the city on Monday, the Ministry of Social Security’s order calls for inspectors, police and temporary civilian enforcement teams to be mobilized until the end of this month to remove kkotjebi from subway stations up until one hour before service ends each day.
Kkotjebi have recently been gathering in Pyongyang’s subway stations because the facilities are heated.
“The ministry believes this demonstrates a gap in security of the capital city and has mobilized many personnel to deal with the problem,” the source said.
He explained that the ministry’s deployment of so many personnel to remove kkotjebi from subway stations is related to the discovery of a dead teenaged kkotjebi in the bathroom of Mangyongdae District’s Kwangbok Station. The young person had been secretly living in the bathroom.
“The subway cleaning staff discovered the dead teenaged kkotjebi,” said the source. “According to the autopsy, the kkotjebi had nothing in his stomach and presumably died from starvation after surviving just on water.”
Judging from his photo, the authorities believe the teenager had been homeless for about a year since going missing from a boarding high school for orphans in Sangwon County, North Hwanghae Province, an area that borders Pyongyang.
However, the authorities have not released information confirming the teenager’s exact identity.
In Pyongyang, some people are reportedly saying the authorities are intentionally avoiding confirming the teenager’s exact identity for fear of exposing flaws in Pyongyang’s security.
The Ministry of State Security even held internal discussions calling on personnel to do a better job with a view to prevent the ministry from coming under fire in the early days of the new year, the source said.
“The Ministry of State Security basically ordered that kkotjebi be prevented from entering Pyongyang, and if officials catch kkotjebi, they shouldn’t just let them go, but put the vagabonds in a collection point or local police lockup temporarily,” he explained.
“Once police confirm their place of residence, they’ll contact the Ministry of State Security branches of other cities and counties and transfer the detainees,” the source continued.
“Many Pyongyang residents spend time in subway stations to avoid the cold, but the Ministry of Social Security also ordered that anyone spending more than three hours in subway stations be arrested as a suspicious person,” he added.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
