With North Korean authorities bringing all inter-regional disease control checkpoints under the direct authority of the Central Emergency Anti-epidemic Headquarters, tensions are escalating between existing checkpoints of the Ministry of State Security and the newly reorganized quarantine checkpoints.
Physical fights have even broken out between quarantine inspectors and Ministry of State Security sentries over whether to allow vehicles without mandated disinfecting gear.
According to a Daily NK source on Thursday, two quarantine workers were hospitalized on Tuesday after they were injured in a fight with Ministry of State Security sentries at a “No. 10 checkpoint” near Hyesan, Yanggang Province.
“No. 10 checkpoints” are the Ministry of State Security’s guard posts that inspect inter-regional traffic.
The incident began when a Ministry of State Security vehicle without disinfecting gear pulled up at the checkpoint.
North Korean authorities recently placed the quarantine stations that were alongside the Ministry of State Security’s checkpoints between county, city, and provincial borders under the direct authority of the Central Emergency Anti-epidemic Headquarters.
Private buses and private taxis — so called “servi-cha” — can pass through the checkpoints only if they carry somebody to handle quarantine duties and have sprayers, disinfectants, and other disease-control gear.
If they do not, they face punishment for violating quarantine laws. Essentially, the authority of quarantine inspectors has been greatly strengthened.
The authorities are also having the Ministry of State Security’s No. 10 checkpoints and the quarantine checkpoints watch one another to ensure that vehicles cannot bribe their way through.
In this case, the vehicle in question had a driver and a civilian woman as a passenger. Their destination was Pyongyang.
However, why they were traveling from Yanggang Province to Pyongyang is not clear.
Even though the vehicle’s occupants had quarantine certificates and travel papers, they were not allowed to pass through the quarantine checkpoint because they did not have emergency masks, disinfectant, and other gear.
However, a fight began when Ministry of State Security agents at the No. 10 checkpoint argued that the vehicle could pass since it was cleared by superiors.
The armed Ministry of State Security agents pointed their guns at the quarantine inspectors. In the end, they beat the quarantine inspectors with the butts of their guns, the victims collapsing in a bloody heap. They were immediately taken to the hospital, though their injuries are not life-threatening.
The incident was immediately reported to both the provincial branches of the Central Emergency Anti-epidemic Headquarters and Ministry of State Security, as well as the headquarters of the two agencies in Pyongyang.
North Korea declared a period of heightened patrols nationwide from last Monday, two days ahead of the holiday marking late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s birthday, going on higher alert to prevent even the smallest of incidents.
Because of this, the Yanggang Province branch of the Ministry of State Security rushed to resolve the matter, but with Pyongyang already involved, the physical altercation could blow up into a serious incident.
The source said the hospitalized quarantine workers say they will file complaints against the Ministry of State Security sentries to Pyongyang. He said while there has been an ongoing war of nerves between quarantine checkpoints and Ministry of State Security checkpoints, the latest incident will not be easy to resolve since it grew violent.
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