Changchun, China — Arson is being blamed for a fire which destroyed five homes in the Kanggu-dong area of Hyesan, a source from Yangkang Province told The Daily NK on Thursday <\/p>\n
\u201cFive single-storey wooden houses went up in flames,\u201d the source reported. \u201cAt that particular moment the power was out, so the cause of the fire can\u2019t have been a short circuit.\u201d<\/p>\n
The source added that the number of casualties has not been released.<\/p>\n
According to the source, the houses did not get caught in a fire arising elsewhere, and it appeared to have been started deliberately. Therefore, he said the investigating authorities are treating it as arson. <\/p>\n
\u201cTherefore,\u201d the source added, \u201cthe National Security Agency (NSA) is investigating whether it was started by an individual with a grudge or was a display of anger against the Republic (North Korea) by anti-state factions.\u201d <\/p>\n
The NSA, in light of its suspicion that the arson attack may have its root in anti-Republic sentiment, has added extra officers in the neighborhood to prevent further crimes. <\/p>\n
Arson is not particularly rare in North Korea, and has been used as a form of protest before. During the March of Tribulation, arson was frequent, with government departments related to food or farm cadres\u2019 houses being the main targets. <\/p>\n
In 1998, following a case at Suncheon Tire Plant, one arsonist was publicly executed.<\/p>\n
Kanggu-dong is a relatively fortunate neighborhood, since it lies right on the border with China at a point where black market trade thrives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Changchun, China — Arson is being blamed for a fire which destroyed five homes in the Kanggu-dong area of Hyesan, a source from Yangkang Province told The Daily NK on Thursday \u201cFive single-storey wooden houses went up in flames,\u201d the source reported. \u201cAt that particular moment the power was out, so the cause of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":11519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[645],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy"],"yoast_head":"\n