[imText1]The DailyNK was confirmed by a number of sources on Friday, January 28, that there was a public execution where seven soldiers were shot publicly last December in Huiryung, the city where underground anti-regime group filmed their activities.
Han Hye Young of 36 years old (pseudoname), a North Korean defector from Huiryung who defected to China in the beginning of January this year, met The DailyNK reporter in Tumen and testified, “There was a public execution of seven peeople in mid-December at Huiryung Stadium, which is located in Nammun dong of Huiryung city.” She further explained by saying, “Most of them were soldiers who received bribes and allowed people to defect or smuggle things.”
“This is not a good time since we even hear of public execution there. I cannot think of returning to Huiryung now. I might have stay away and see how the situation turns out,” said another defectors in China from Huiryung.
The place where public execution was held a stadium where all the popular gatherings in Huiryung, such as anti-America protest gathering, take place.
It is known that all the executed were soldiers and it seems most likely that they were executed for receiving bribes during the “5-Part Cooperative Inspection,” which are mostly done near the border area. They must have allowed people to cross over to China or to smuggling goods into North Korea.
As the criticism from the international society on North Korea’s public execution increased, the North Korean government prohibited public execution since 2000. Therefore the most recent public execution in Huiryung is an exception, which alarms that the government is tightening control over the Huiryung region as if it is in an emergency situation.
Meanwhile the video clip that shows anti-regime activities inside North Korea is shown to the North Korean defectors by a missionary organization working in the cities around the Sino-Korean border. According to the people in the field, the North Korean defectors from Huiryung region show special interest in what they see on the video and most of them now feel more threatened because they predict that the government control from North Korean side will intensify much more.
A number of North Korean defectors have reported The DailyNK that due to the special inspection by “Anti-Socialism Control Group” and “social strength establishment assurance,” the city of Huiryung is now more tightly controlled than ever.
Han said, “Thirteen families were expelled from the city of Huiryung, labeled as “families whose earnings do match with their spending. They were people who had relatives in China or in South Korea who became targets to for the inspection because they did not earn enough but had much to spend.”
“I used to send 200,000won ($200) per month to my parents in Huiryung which allowed them to live comfortably there, but since one day, I cannot reach them by their cell phone. I am worried because I heard rumors that a number of families in downtown Huiryung were expelled from the city,” Oh Il Young said, a North Korean defector in China who has a brother defected to South Korea.
Han also informed The DailyNK that recent Korean soap opera VCDs burnt in China became so popular in downtown Huiryung, especially Winter Song (Gyeo-ul Yeon-ga) and Saint and Witch (Sung-nyeo-wa-ma-nyeo) were well known along the Huiryung people, but most of them were seized by the inspectors. “They are tightening the control so much that they do family to family inspection every day and night” added Han.
Recently, the city of Huiryung is under the Special Inspection Command due to a large number of defectors emerged from this area and has become the target of the Concentrated Control by the government of North Korea since the anti-regime video clip that went public last month.
