North Korea is carrying out quiet investigations of citizen registries during nationwide health checks aimed at combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Basically, the authorities have begun using health checks as a cover to determine how many people have left their registered place of residence, as well as their identities.
A source in North Korea told Daily NK on Wednesday that the authorities have been comparing the ID cards of those who have taken part in the nationwide health checks underway since late May with their actual faces, as well as reconfirming their residential addresses.
With some people failing to take part in the state-led health checks, and police determining that not even their families or relatives seem to know where they are, the Ministry of Social Security quietly ordered its local branches across the country to use the health exams to determine who has left their registered place of residence.
The order called on police officials to complete work on reconfirming public registrations by early August.
In short, with more and more people dying of hunger or going missing as food shortages and economic difficulties worsen due to the prolonged closure of the border, the Ministry of Social Security is re-confirming citizen registrations behind the facade of disease control-related activities.
According to the source, local branches of the Ministry of Social Security are conducting investigations determining who has absconded from their legal residence using a list received from the emergency anti-epidemic commands. The list has the names of individuals who have failed to take part in state medical exams.
The branches are also investigating people wandering around their jurisdictions or secretly living in other people’s homes without properly registering their place of residence.
This follows an order from the Ministry of Social Security to ascertain all such scofflaws, including those who are temporarily living in the homes of other people after illegally selling their own homes.
Accordingly, individuals who are determined by the authorities to have “no home under their own name” will have to report where they live once a month to local police officials or the heads of neighborhood watch units. Those who fail to provide regular reports will face fines and other punishments.
“The Ministry of Social Security also ordered that people who have been confirmed as leaving their official place of residence and have relatives who have illegally left the country, have gone missing, or have defected to South Korea will be temporarily classified as ‘an individual who may go missing’ or ‘an individual who may illegally leave the country,'” the source said. In short, the authorities plan to carefully monitor these people as “dangerous elements” given that they may try to defect.
The source pointed out, however, that with more and more people worrying where their next meal will come from, there is no way the state can manage and control everyone who — unable to endure the hunger — runs away from their registered place of residence just to survive.
“The Ministry of Social Security also said it would hand down harsh party, administrative or legal punishments on public registration departments or officials who register people as dead without verifying a body, not only during the [current] COVID-19 lockdown, but going forward as well,” the source added.
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