Security officials in North Korea’s northern border city of Hoeryong are pressuring families of defectors to confess receiving money from relatives abroad and surrender those funds.
Officers from the Ministry of State Security are threatening defectors’ families with relocation to remote mountain areas if they don’t cooperate, sources in North Hamgyong province told Daily NK recently.
“The security officials tell these families, ‘You can do as you please if you want to be on the deportation list,'” a source said. “Even being deported from a provincial area like Hoeryong means being sent to remote mountains where survival is difficult despite having money.”
The intimidation has led some families to surrender substantial sums. Last month, one family handed over 10,000 Chinese yuan (approximately $1,970) while another surrendered 6,000 yuan ($1,180).
The crackdown comes amid Kim Jong Un’s intensified efforts to seal the country from outside influences, especially along the Chinese border region. Authorities have deployed additional security personnel and surveillance technology to detect unauthorized communications and money transfers, which the regime views as threatening to its ideological control.
North Korean authorities have intensified surveillance of defectors’ families, classifying them as “dangerous elements” for maintaining contact with “traitors who betrayed the homeland.”
Some families have begun refusing money from brokers who arrive with funds, telling them to leave immediately. “They would rather go hungry than live under constant surveillance,” the source said.
