As part of preparations for the upcoming delegates’ election to the Supreme People’s Assembly, Open Radio for North Korea (ORNK) reports in its weekly newsletter, that the regulation of cell phones in North Korea has been ratcheted up a notch.
A Shinuij-based ORNK source was quoted in the newsletter, “Joint regulation by the inspection group, which came down from the National Security Agency, and the North Pyongan Provincial Security Agency started on February 1. The Joint Inspection Group is composed of members from each municipal and county security agency, 50 members of the Radio Frequency Monitoring Unit under the Conspiracy Research Office of the provincial NSA and 20 members of the Transmission Maintenance Bureau (the No. 26 Bureau) under the NSA.”
He continued, “In Shinuiju, the number of people in each group was increased from two to five, while 24/7 monitoring began and the monitoring area was expanded. Vehicles for detecting transmissions have on average increased in number from three to seven, and they are making inspections continuously.”
The newsletter also relayed, “Due to North Korea’s internal regulations, the number of defection brokers has also sharply decreased.”
One defection broker residing in Musan, North Hamkyung Province provided an analysis, “Recently, the number of defection brokers has decreased by a third. This is because border controls have reached their high-water mark with the elections ahead, regulation of the floating domestic population has been toughened up and the defection costs have jumped significantly as a result.”
The source explained the costs of defection, “It used to be possible for 4,000~5,000 Yuan, but after the winter of 2008, 10,000 Yuan became the norm and there are regions where it goes for up to 13,000 Yuan.”
