Security tightened in the run-up to Moon and Kim’s visit to Mt. Paektu

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Korean on September 20.

Kim Jong Un, Ri Sol Ju, Moon Jae In, and Kim Jong Suk at a welcome ceremony in Pyongyang for this year’s third inter-Korean summit. Image: Pyongyang Press Corps Pool

In the run-up to the second inter-Korean summit, North Korea designated the entire week a “special security week” and handed down orders to the military and security agencies to tighten surveillance. The North Korean military has delayed issuing discharges of soldiers and has focused on strengthening patrols on the border with China to prevent any incidents.

Before news in South Korea spread that President Moon Jae In and Chairman Kim Jong Un would visit Mt Baekdu on the final day of the summit, the North Korean authorities had already reportedly handed down orders to strengthen security in Ryanggang Province (where Mt. Paektu is located) from September 19 to September 21.

Soldiers were stationed near the railway station in Hyesan and in the city proper, while trains stopped operating on the Hyesan-Samjiyon line and roads heading into Samjiyon were closed.

“All factories, enterprises and imminbans [people’s units, a type of neighborhood watch] held an emergency meeting on the evening of September 18,” said a Ryanggang Province-based source on September 19.

“Even during the ‘special security week’, an order was handed down for [security forces] to work on round-the-clock shifts from September 19 to September 21 to strengthen security.”

The meetings warned attendees “not to leave their own zone of work or residence during the period, to avoid talking about rumors, and that [security forces] will patrol the roads and facilities 24 hours a day [in the area],” he explained.

“People [knew] what the authorities have ordered them to do during the ‘special security week,’ but they emphasized which days people needed to be careful about. So the atmosphere was very serious and full of tension. We could feel that Kim Jong Un was participating in an event [in the area],” a source in North Hamgyong Province added.

“An order was handed down to the border patrol and Ministry of State Security checkpoints, which monitor people’s movements, to ensure that ‘nothing is to move around in the border region, even a spider.'”

Both sources said that Party and government officials in their respective regions were on duty around the clock to monitor the security situation.

Some North Korean traders experienced difficulties because they were unable to travel outside of specified areas. Government employees who were in the Hyesan area to transport mushrooms for sale were also restricted from moving around and stayed in a local motel.