North Korea’s military has dispatched a
special surveillance team to areas bordering with China to crack down on
residents, patrol forces, and security agents that may be aiding and
abetting escapes to China, Daily NK has learned.
“An inspection team made up of officers in
the military’s Defense Security Command [DSC] was dispatched to the border,
where they’re carrying out intensive investigation,” a source from North
Hamkyung Province told Daily NK on Thursday. “The team is made up of about ten
people, and it will travel from Musan County in North Hamkyung Province to
other areas in order to carry out inspections on illegal activities.”
The investigation, consisting mostly of
questioning residents and guards in the border areas, are primarily
focused on escapes, illegal crossing through the border rivers, and overseas
phone calls. “The team is not only arresting those involved with outsiders
(from China or South Korea) but also anyone who has turned a blind eye to
related activities,” she said.
Targets of the investigation encompass a
range of personnel, including border patrol guards, soldiers stationed in the
border area, local units from the Ministry of People’s Security, and local
State Security Department [SSD] officials. The team wasted no time, “arriving
on the scene and launching a full-scale investigation the very next day,” she
asserted, adding that 3-4 border control officials affiliated with either the
Ministry of People’s Security or the State Security Department have been called
in for questioning.”
These officials are suspected of taking
bribes to turn a blind eye to North Korean residents intending to defect and
illegal crossing of the river, sometimes intended to defect but at other times
to facilitate smuggling or business transactions. “After seeing persistent
illegal activity on among solider and security officials on the border continue
unabated, the DSC got involved,” she explained.
According to the source, illegal phones out
of the country have also been part of the investigation. The fact that this
recent directive closely follows a similar one in March reflects not only the
rampant bribery prevalent along the porous border, but also a leadership
grappling with the sisyphean battle of attempting to stymie it.
After the lull following the March
investigation, tension is running high in the border area again. “Especially
some of those with priors of illegal river crossing and/or outbound phone calls
have temporarily fled to areas further away from the border or are refraining
from calling out of the country,” she said.
Those on the watch lists due to prior
activities have no choice but to “wait it out” and continue “living in the
dark” for the time being, the source concluded.
