North Korea’s Ministry of State Security recently arrested the descendents of a South Korean prisoner of war who were aimlessly wandering the country by train, Daily NK has learned.
“The Ministry of State Security put out a nationwide wanted notice for a mother and son who were wandering the country after selling their home due to hardships during the COVID-19 pandemic, and in the end the pair was arrested in Yangdok late last month,” a reporting partner in South Pyongan Province told Daily NK on Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
According to the reporting partner, the mother and son were the granddaughter and great grandson of a South Korean prisoner of war who died in an accident after being dragged off to work in a mine in North Hamgyong Province. The Ministry of State Security had been keeping a watchful eye on them for some time.
The mother and son sold their home and their possessions due to hardships experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic and ended up on the streets. Later, they started wandering the country.
However, when they suddenly disappeared, the security agency watching them suspected that they fled to South Korea, so they put out a wanted notice for the pair.
“The Ministry of State Security said they were trying to go to South Korea and ordered that they must be caught, even if that meant searching the entire country. So it distributed photos of the pair to neighborhood watch units and the train police,” said the reporting partner. “In the end, they were caught on a train near Yangdok Station and immediately dragged off somewhere.
“They were accused of being dangerous wanderers and arrested for the serious crime of trying to flee to the South, so rumors about their case spread not only in Yangdok, but throughout the province as well,” he added.
The Ministry of Social Security has responded to the incident by ordering localities to thoroughly register the current places of residence of the families and descendants of South Korean prisoners of war, defectors to South Korea, people who illegally crossed the border and people who have gone missing, and to regularly watch their movements.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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