North Korea’s Ministry of Social Security recently issued an order calling for intense crackdowns on the border region’s rapidly growing number of homeless people.
A source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Monday that the ministry issued “Order 1541” to regional bureaus nationwide in mid-July. When the ministry’s provincial branch in North Hamgyong Province received the order, it immediately called an emergency meeting of provincial, city and county officials.
The order essentially called for intensified crackdowns on the rapidly growing number of homeless people along the China-North Korea border, calling them a threat to the public by hindering state emergency quarantine efforts and blaming them for tarnishing the image of socialism.
In particular, the ministry called on each province to take tougher control and management of the situation by organizing enforcement squads they can rush to wherever they are needed to stop more homeless from appearing. It also called on provincial branches of the ministry to launch an intensive crackdown on the homeless who appear daily in markets, near train stations, at garbage dumps, along train tracks, in train tunnels and under bridges.
The source said the order called for the intensive crackdown on the homeless to continue until Nov. 30.
“The Ministry of Social Security called for provincial, city and country branches to work with party and administrative bodies to quickly eradicate the homeless by building separate facilities for them, providing temporary buildings or using inns to house them,” he said.
North Korea is taking the reappearance of large numbers of homeless people along the border — in defiance of strict state travel bans — very seriously, believing that the phenomenon could lead to larger numbers of illegal border hoppers and defectors or more people approaching the “no man’s land” buffer established along the border to stop COVID-19.
Above all else, North Korean authorities are reportedly worried that people could take photos of the homeless from the Chinese side of the border.
“They called on the issue to be handled quickly, stressing that photos of homeless could be misused in the anti-Republic schemes of enemies, who run around trying to pull down our ideology and socialist system,” said the source.
Moreover, the source said North Korean authorities called for any and all measures to deal with the problem, warning that North Koreans themselves could develop hostility towards the state if they see growing numbers of homeless people.
In fact, at the emergency meeting that followed the reception of the order, North Hamgyong Province’s branch of the Ministry of Social Security called for measures that would leave “not even a homeless person on the streets” by Nov. 30, when the intensive crackdown period ends.
More specifically, the provincial branch of the ministry put leading provincial ministry cadres in charge of the crackdown efforts, calling on them to swiftly resolve the problem by forming the enforcement teams and crafting plans to build temporary shelters and feed the homeless. It also called for homeless adults to be placed in labor brigades so they can take part in labor-intensive activities.
Translator’s Note: Kkotjebi (꽃제비) refers to homeless people of any age in North Korea, although it originally referred just to homeless children.
