North Korean Economy Watch

Daily NK
Han Young Jin
10/16/2007

Several inside sources reported that a National Security Agency inspection group consisting of 40 agents was dispatched to Shinuiju on October 1st to keep control over the usage of cell-phones.

Mr. Kim, who resides in Shinuiju said that “An inspection group from Pyongyang is censoring the usage of cell-phones among citizens, staying in the office of the Province-Security Agency. They are tracing the frequency broadband of Chinese mobile communication to find users.

“At the beginning of last week, the agents unexpectedly entered several houses around 11p.m. in Bonbu-dong in order to arrest suspected cell-phone users. It looked like a spy roundup project. Although it failed to catch users, the citizens’ fear of the inspection group was quite enormous.”

He relayed that “If they find the numbers of the South Korean country code recorded in the confiscated cell-phones, the owners of the cell-phones will be severely punished.”

In 2003, North Korea planned to construct a mobile communication system on a nationwide scale, but it ceased abruptly for fear of damages to national security in 2004. China-North Korea traders and residents in the border areas have been using the Chinese mobile communication system for their businesses, but the control of the mobile usage has been strengthening since 2006.

Another source informed us that “the device that the Security Agency uses for detection is produced by ‘Rohdesch,’ a German company. No one can use cell-phones because the device can reportedly pick up the signals easily when the agents, allegedly carrying the device in their pockets, approach areas where people are using cell-phones.

The company mentioned by Mr. Lee is Rohde & Schwarz, a German company which produces broadcasting devices, radio communication systems and other precision gauges and devices.

An affiliate of the wireless radio wave detection department under the Ministry of Information and Communication said in a phone conversation with DailyNK that “it is difficult to find radio waves from a cell-phone if you are not adjacent to the cell-phone user. I presume that NSC may ransack only the limited area where the Chinese mobile communication’s signal can reach, that is, within a few kilometers of the border, to search for cell-phone users.”

An affiliate in charge of the Networking Device of SK Telecom explained that “the mobile phone detection device can catch phone signals when the phone is on and in use, just within a 2km radius. But even then, it is difficult to find the exact location of the user.”

The rumor seems not true that the National Security agents are searching for cell-phone users by carrying the detection device in their pockets.

Our source, Mr. Lee, said that “along the border areas, the only group of people who can use mobile phones legally are Chinese merchants. However, the authorities have asked them not to use the cell-phones, or if they must, use them only with the permission of the NSC.”

He added that “If someone is caught, the degree of punishment depends on to where he or she attempted to call. If they called someone in China, a $300 fine would be sufficient; but if the call was made to South Korea, they may be sent to long term reeducation camps following heavy interrogation from the NSC.

He said, “What did the South Korean President come here for? The Chosun (North Korea) regime’s attitude has never changed.”

Yonhap
Sohn suk-joo
8/22/2007

North Korea’s most powerful organization is leading efforts to clean up damage from heavy floods and restore the country’s infrastructure, the North’s state media reported Wednesday.

The National Defense Commission (NDC), the highest decision-making body under the communist country’s constitution that was revised in 1997 to reflect its “songun” or military first policy, supervises relief operations involving military forces and equipment.

“We’ve achieved recovery and restoration by appealing to party, government and labor officials to go out to damaged areas under the guidance of the National Defense Commission,” Kim Kyong-san, a senior official of the Pyongyang Railway bureau, said in an interview with Radio Pyongyang.

According to North Korea watchers, North Korea’s cabinet has usually spearheaded flood relief efforts in the communist country in the past. The NDC’s involvement signifies the extent of the damage and is also meant to speed up restoration ahead of the summit between President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, who leads the commission, they said.

Meanwhile, North Korea is in the final stages of restoring the railway line in Pyongyang.

“The Pyongyang railway line is fundamental in connecting the country to the east and west. All workers have labored hard and are urged to do more at the final stage,” Kim Kyong-san said.

Devastating floods are believed to have destroyed a revised 14 percent of the North’s farmland, South Korean officials said. South Korea, other countries and international agencies are extending a helping hand to the North.

The number of dead and missing is estimated at more than 300, with the homeless numbering about 300,000. An estimated 46,580 homes of 88,400 families were destroyed or damaged, according to the North’s media.

This year, South Korea is providing 400,000 tons of rice to the North, while it plans to send 7.1 billion won (US$7.5 million) worth of relief goods to North Korea.

On Tuesday, Pyongyang requested more help from the South, and South Korea is considering what to offer in response to the North’s plea for construction materials and heavy equipment.

The severe flood damage caused the two Koreas to postpone their second-ever summit, originally scheduled to be held late this month, until early October. Their leaders are to meet Oct. 2-4 in Pyongyang.

According to North Korean officials, the expressway linking Pyongyang and Kaesong has been damaged by heavy flooding, interfering with transportation. Roh plans to travel to Pyongyang via the overland route, and South Korean officials expressed hope that the expressway will be restored before the summit takes place.

Daily NK
Kim Young Jin
7/24/2007

The North Korean government, with the approaching Provincial People’s Assembly delegate elections on the 29th of this month, stepped-up one level the management of citizens and regulation of cell phones.

Kang Ki Ok (pseudonym), a civilian of Hyesan in Yangkang Provicne, said in a phone conversation with the reporter on the 20th, “Nowadays, I am afraid to turn on my cell phone. The People Safety agents and the National Security agents inspect us with fury in their eyes. People who use cell phones during the election season are punished, so there are people who bury their phones by putting them into jars.”

The North Korean government, when the People’s Assembly election season comes around every four or five years, concentrates on regulating the society by observing the movement of citizens and examining the registration cards.

The members of the elections preparations committee, composed of National Security agents, chairmen of People’s Units, and head officials of each provincial unit, are ordered to strictly investigate illegal acts occurring in their regions and to control them. Illegal acts are punished at the end of the elections.

According to Mr. Kang, the outflow of information has been secured at the border region with the upcoming delegate elections, so concentrated cell phone regulation were carried out. Further, the control of the border has been toughened recently, so the escape fee has skyrocked to the North Korean currency of 1 million won (approx. US$1,075).

Another source relayed, “Safeguarding Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il statues and research offices have been toughened by inspection units composed of each organ and enterprise farming laborers. Further, they are making sure that historic places and vestiges of battle are not destroyed.”

This source said, “Youth Leagues have also organized inspection units and are regulating unemployed persons and are strictly making sure that juveniles do not watch South Korean dramas and listen to illegal CDs and South Korean songs.”

On one hand, related to election preparation, each city, district, and county candidates were posted at the election site and citizens over 17 have gone into preparations such as conducting voter registrations through the election committee.

The source also relayed that the People’s Safety Agency have actively stepped up inspections by summoning civilians who have gone out to foreign sites to catch clam and mine gold for survival.

When the movement of the North Korean authorities to strengthen the solidarity of the regime was presented through this election, the citizens, in fear of being punished as trial cases, have produced a cautious atmosphere.”

At the time of the Supreme People’s Assembly elections in 2003, when thefts or acts of violence occurred, perpetrators were stringently punished regardless of whether or not they were members of the Workers’ Party. Further, in the case that teenagers got into fist fights, the parents were disciplined and jointly held responsible.

Mr. Kim, who defected in 2006, said, “At the time of the 1991 provincial elections, in the province where we were living, teenagers got into a fist fight. One of the gangs who started the fight accused the opponent of “stirring a political event destroying elections” and went to the parents and got compensation for damages by threatening them.”

Korea Times
Andrei Lankov
7/1/2007

What is the “North Korean KGB?’’ This common question is actually rather meaningless _ not because North Korea does not have an analogue to the Soviet agency (it does), but because the structure of the North Korean “intelligence community’’ is remarkably complicated. In North Korea there are three major independent intelligence services _ and an array of minor sub-services.

Each service has its own field of responsibility and expertise, but in some areas they are compete fiercely. Presumably, such competition makes the North Korean leaders a bit less restive in their sleep: in a dictatorship, an excessive concentration of intelligence in one agency’s hands is fraught with danger.

Since we have mentioned the KGB, let’s start from North Korea’s closest analogue, the Ministry for Protection of State Security or MPSS. Back in the 1950s, the MPSS’s predecessor grew up absorbing a serious influence from the KGB. Like its Soviet prototype, the MPSS combines the functions of political police, counterintelligence, and political intelligence.

As a political police force, the MPSS runs a huge network of informers, manages the camps for political prisoners, and enforces manifold security regulations. As a counterintelligence agency, it does everything it can to prevent foreign spies from effecting infiltration into North Korea. And, finally, it is engaged in intelligence gathering overseas and, to some extent, in South Korea. A special role of this agency is emphasized by the fact that it is headed not by a regular minister but by Kim Jong Il himself. Yes, the “Dear Leader’’ is also the minister of his own security _ a wise arrangement, perhaps, taking into consideration the tendency of intelligence bosses to become too powerful.

However, the mighty MPSS is not very prominent when it comes to operations in South Korea. A North Korean peculiarity is the existence of the party’s own intelligence branch. The Korean Workers Party’s (KWP)own secret service is euphemistically called the Third Building _ after the number of the building in which the relevant departments are located. The Third Building bureaucracy consists of a few departments and bureaus, each with its peculiar tasks.

The KWP’s secret service has survived from the late 1940s when the party operated in both parts of the country. The Communist underground in the South, and the then powerful guerrilla movement, were managed by special departments of the KWP Central Committee. The South Korean Communist underground was wiped out in the early 1950s, but the related bureaucracy in the North survived and found justification for its existence (once created, bureaucracies are very difficult to kill). Its raison d’etre is the need to promote Juche/Communist ideas in the South, with the resurrection of the Communist movement as a supreme goal; a Communist-led unification is a more distant task. In the course of time, these goals were seen as more and more remote, but were never abandoned completely.

In fact, the Third Building is largely responsible for attempts to influence the South Korean political situation, and for gathering intelligence which makes such influence more efficient. The United Front Department, a part of the Third Building, is also responsible for clandestine operations in other countries where it strives to change the local attitudes in North Korea’s favor.

Since the Third Building should aim at starting local insurrections, many of its staff have undergone commando-style training. The only known political assassination in recent years was conducted by the officers of the Operational Department, which is a part of the Third Building. In 1997 they hunted down and shot dead Yi Han-yong, a relative of Kim Il-sung who had defected to the South and published some highly critical books about the North Korean ruling dynasty.

In addition to the MPSS and the Third Building, North Korea also has a military intelligence service whose operations largely target South Korea. Their major interest is the South Korean military and the USFK, as well as any intelligence which may be of use should a new war erupt on the Korean Peninsula.

Many people still remember the September 1996 incident when a North Korean submarine ran ashore on the eastern coast and was abandoned by the crew whose members became engaged in frequent clashes with the police and army. This was a routine operation of military intelligence that went wrong due to a navigational mistake. The commandos were supposed to survey the military installations on the coast, and then move back to the North, but it did not work as intended.

The efforts of North Korean intelligence services are concentrated on the South. But this does not mean that other countries are immune to their activity. The North Korean spies are especially active in Japan, and this was once again demonstrated by the dramatic events of 2001.

Choson Ilbo (Hat Tip DPRK Studies)
6/18/2007

North Korea’s First Vice Foreign Minister Kang Sok-ju, who is in responsible for Pyongyang’s diplomatic affairs including the nuclear issue, was in May made a member of the ruling National Defense Commission (NDC) led by dictator Kim Jong-il, Russian sources said Sunday.

The sources said Kim appointed Kang to the leadership body to strengthen his power base, with the move seen as ensuring the NDC holds sway over the military as well as domestic and foreign affairs.

Kang has served as the First Vice Foreign Minister since 1986 and is known as the only foreign ministry official who can directly advise Kim. He was a signer of the 1994 Geneva Accords between the U.S. and North Korea and the leader of Pyongyang’s representatives in the six-nation talks. Kang recently visited Moscow for treatment of a cataract.

The sources also said that General Lee Myung-soo, who was the North Korean military’s director of operations, has been made an organizer in the NDC.

The NDC currently consists of the country’s nine most powerful leaders, including Kim who serves as the body’s head, Vice Marshal Cho Myong Rok, who is Kim’s special envoy, Vice Marshal Kim Young-choon, General Rhee Yong-mu, General Kim Il-cheol and Secretary Chun Byung-ho.

Yonhap
5/21/2007

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il recently made a reshuffle of his top military officials that may solidify his already firm grip on the country’s military, intelligence officials said Monday.

Ri Myong-su, former operations director of the North’s Korean People’s Army (KPA), has been named a resident member of the National Defense Commission (NDC), the highest decision-making body under the communist nation’s constitution that was revised in 1997 to reflect its military first, or “songun,” policy, an official said while speaking anonymously.

Ri was replaced by Kim Myong-guk, who had served in the post from 1994-1997, while Jong Thae-gun, an Army lieutenant general, has been named the propaganda director of the KPA’s General Political Bureau, according to the sources.

The reshuffle first appeared to be a routine rearrangement of personnel, but the sources said it may have been aimed at expanding the role and power of the already powerful NDC.

“The NDC seems to have become, at least externally, the North’s highest decision-making body as a number of top military officials have recently been appointed to (new) permanent posts of the defense commission,” a source said.

“We believe the NDC may become an actual organization in the near future with hundreds of resident staff like the other top decision-making bodies” such as the Workers’ Party, the official added.

Headed by the North’s reclusive leader, the defense commission has been the most powerful organization in the country where the military comes before everything.

But it has mostly been regarded as a faction of a group, namely the KPA, as most of its members concurrently served in other posts of the army, according to the sources.

Kim Yong-chun, the former Chief of General Staff of the KPA, was named the first deputy chairman of the NDC in April.

The sources said it is too early to determine why the commission’s permanent staff has been increased, but they said it may be linked to Pyongyang’s ruling system after Kim Jong-il.

The 65-year-old Kim has yet to name his successor, raising questions worldwide whether the reclusive leader is considering a collective ruling system after his death.

Kim was named as successor to his father, the founder of North Korea Kim Il-sung, at the age of 32 in 1974.

He has three sons from two marriages, but his oldest son, Jong-nam, 35, has apparently fallen out of favor following a 2001 incident in which the junior Kim was thrown out of Japan after trying to enter the country with a forged passport.

His two other sons, Jong-chul and Jong-un, both in their early 20s, have not held any official posts.

N. Korea enhances Kim’s defense commission
Korea Herald
Jin Dae-woong
5/21/2007

North Korea is beefing up the National Defense Commission, a top military decision-making body directly controlled by Kim Jong-il, Seoul intelligence sources said.

Pyongyang recently conducted a major reshuffle of its top military leadership, including the repositioning of Kim’s closest confidants to the committee, they said on condition of anonymity.

Chaired by Kim, the committee is an organization independent of the Cabinet and the ruling Korean Workers’ Party. It is next only to the communist country’s president, a post permanently held by the late founder and Kim’s father Kim Il-sung since his death in 1994.

The sources said that Gen. Ri Myong-su, former operation director of the Korean People’s Army, has been appointed as a standing member of the NDC. Gen. Kim Myong-kuk has been named to replace Ri as the top operations commander.

The reshuffle followed the appointment of Vice-Marshal Kim Yong-chun, former chief of the general staff of the Korean People’s Army, as vice chairman of the NDC during last month’s general session of the Supreme People’s Assembly, the nation’s parliament.

The personnel reconfiguration, which also affected key posts in the North Korean armed forces, is seen as part of Pyongyang’s move to further enhance the NDC, a powerful state body, under North Korea’s military-first policy.

The generals have been regarded as the most influential figures in the military as they frequently accompany Kim during his field unit inspections.

The commission has the power to direct all activities of the armed forces and national defense projects, establish and disband central defense institutions, appoint and dismiss senior military officers, confer military titles and grant titles for top commanders. It also can declare a state of war and issue mobilization orders in an emergency.

The National Defense Commission, presently chaired by Kim Jong-il, consists of the first deputy chairman, two deputy chairmen and six commission members. All members are selected for a five-year term.

The reshuffles are the latest known change to the commission. Gen. Hyon Chol-hae, former vice director of the KPA General Political Bureau, moved to the post of NDC vice director in 2003.

Experts noted that the figures are taking full-time posts in the NDC and relinquishing their posts in the People’s Army.

Other current members concurrently hold posts at both organizations, sources said.

Vice Marshal Jo Myong-rok, the first vice-chairman of the NDC, also assumes the position of director of the KPA General Political Bureau. Vice Marshal Kim Il-chol concurrently serves as a member of the NDC and minister of the People’s Armed Forces.

“As high-ranking military officers have moved to the NDC as full-time members, the NDC may be preparing to take follow up measures to expand its role and function in the future,” the sources said.

The NDC has been known as a consultative body of top military leaders without extensive subordinate organizations comparable to the ruling party and the Cabinet.

The intelligence sources said the NDC may have more manpower and organization under its wing.

“The NDC began equipping itself with organizational apparatuses with the 2003 transfer of Hyon Chol-hae from the KPA position to the post of NDC,” another source said.

In addition, the NDC has continued recruiting personnel such as Kim Yang-gon, councilor of the NDC, from other government departments, to strengthen the NDC’s policy functions, sources said.

“It is in line with North Korea’s long-term move to concentrate the country’s decision-making power on Kim Jong-il and his close subordinates,” said Nam Sung-wook, North Korean studies professor at Korea University. “It is mainly aimed at preventing possible regime dissolution amid rising international pressures over its nuclear weapons program. Kim is also seen directly intervening in a resolution of the nuclear issue.”

Kim Yong-hyun, a professor at Dongguk Univsersity, also agreed that the enhancement of the NDC will lead to the centralization of power in North Korea, reducing the role of the Korea Workers’ Party.

“Through the organizational reform, the North’s regime seeks to further streamline decision-making procedures to more effectively tackle an array of issues,” Kim said.

The North Korean studies expert said it is an answer of North Korean leadership to continuing economic hardship. The leadership has given over a comparatively extensive amount of power to the Cabinet for dealing with economic stagnation.

Kim also said it could be interpreted as preparation for the post-Kim Jong-il system.

“After his death, a collective leadership led by core subordinates of Kim Jong-il is expected to emerge, so, the move could be one related to future changes,” he said.

Korea Herald
4/12/2007

The Supreme People’s Assembly, North Korea’s legislature, elected Transport Minister Kim Yong-il as the country’s new premier, replacing Pak Pong-ju, at its fifth plenary session held on Wednesday, Yonhap News Agency quoted a state-run North Korean news agency as reporting.

The SPA also elected Kim Yong-chun, chief of general staff of the Korean People’s Army, as the vice chairman of the National Defense Commission, a position which has been vacant since death of Yon Hyong-muk in October 2005, the Korean Central News Agency said. Kim Jong-il is the NSC chairman, and the NDC has two vice chairmen.

The 62-year-old new premier has served as the land and maritime transport minister since 1994. He visited Syria in 2005 to conclude a maritime transport agreement.

The SPA convenes once or twice a year at irregular intervals. The SPA is headed by Kim Yong-nam, the official president of the Presidium of the SPA. He also serves as the titular head of the communist state.

Joong Ang Daily
Lee Young-jong and Ser Myo-ja
4/5/2007

As relations between the two Koreas warm, North Korea filled a key post that had been empty since August with a veteran diplomat, intelligence sources in Seoul said yesterday.

Kim Yang-gon is now director of the unification front of the Worker’s Party, a position roughly equivalent to South Korea’s unification minister.

“Kim was appointed to the post last month, shortly after inter-Korean relations were restored [in February],” a senior intelligence official said. “We assessed that North Korea was realigning its South Korea policy makers.”

Kim, 69, had been the councilor of the National Defense Commission, headed by Kim Jong-il. The Workers’ Party had left the unification front director post empty since Rim Tong-ok died in August of last year.

Since the 1980s, Kim Yang-gon has served in various key foreign affairs posts, including vice director and director of the international department of the party. Sources said Kim Jong-il wanted someone with international affairs ability because inter-Korean relations depend upon the six-nation nuclear talks and U.S.-North Korea relations.

Kim Yang-gon is also one of Kim Jong-il’s closest aides. After Workers’ Party Secretary Hwang Jang-yop defected to the South in 1997, Hyon Jun-guk was fired as the party’s international department director. Kim Jong-il appointed Kim, and he has accompanied the North Korean leader on many important meetings with foreign visitors. Kim also accompanied Kim Jong-il during rare trips to China and Russia. “We will look forward to appointments to other empty posts, such as the secretary of the Unification Front for the party and the chairman of the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland,” the intelligence source said.

The two posts to be filled were left vacant after Kim Yong-sun died in a 2003 traffic accident. They are both key North Korea organs that make policy with regard to South Korea.

The Nation
1/18/2007

North Korea’s energy minister has been fired because he suggested that the power supply to leader Kim Jong-Il’s guesthouse should be diverted for public use, a Japanese newspaper said Thursday.

Ju Tong-il, minister of power and coal industries, was fired late last year by the leaders of the impoverished Communist state, the evening edition of the Mainichi Shimbun daily said in a story from Beijing.

“Our country’s energy situation is extremely severe,” Ju told a meeting of energy-related officials last spring, according to the daily, quoting unnamed sources close to the North Korean government.

“Or better yet, why don’t we get back electricity fed to the guesthouses of our general?” Ju reportedly suggesting, referring to Kim.

Ju later excused his remarks, saying: “I just wanted to express the fact that our domestic electricity condition is paralyzed.”

But he came under fire from leaders of the ruling Workers Party and was then dismissed, the daily said.

Agence France Presse

Golden Villas, Let’s Share Electricity!
Daily NK
Yang Jung A
1/19/2007

While North Korea’s electrical power supply worsens, North Korea’s Premier Park Bong Ju pushes for the expansion of energy supply and civil electrical support only to receive a personal punishment from authorities or in actual, his position changed.

“As a result of energy and other issues, Ju Dong Il, the Minister of the Electricity and Coal Industry was removed from his position” a Japanese newspaper “Mainichi” reported on the 18th, citing a source related to the North Korean government.

The Minister Ju was known for his proposal on energy made at a policy meeting early 2005 where a comment was made “The electricity situation in our country is seriously grave” and suggested “How about we redirect the electricity from our leader’s personal residence and use that.”

This proposal suggested that the electricity crisis be partly solved by redistributing some of the electricity supplying Kim Jong Il’s numerous personal villas throughout the nation, to much needed industries and homes.

As the Minister Ju realized his comments had set a predicament, he tried to justify himself stating “I simply wanted to express that the country’s electricity is in an immobilized state” but was known to have been reprimanded by the central authorities and his position changed. Since last October, the Ministry of the Electricity and Coal Industry had been separated to the Ministry of Electrical Industry and the Ministry of Coal Industry.

In the same month, Premier Park expressed his concerns on the export of coal to China at a trade conference saying “If this situation continues, our country will be faced with serious implications from the energy crisis. The people will be unable to use their central heating and industries will stop. It would be better to refrain from further exports.” The newspaper also mentioned that Premier Park had gone to the extent of submitting a proposal and that the ministry had even settled on the suspension of coal exports.

However, following the nuclear experiment, the National Defense Commission asserted that the acquirement of foreign currency was an absolute necessity in strengthening the military and strongly urged for the resumption of exports. In the end, the ministry’s decision was overturned and exports recommenced.

Though Premier Park has not yet been replaced, under the orders of authorities, he is known to be spending his time in self-discipline as “for now, revision is necessary.” Though Premier Park’s name is listed on the roll of honors, he has not been seen in the presence of Kim Jong Il. 

Daily NK
Han Young Jin
1/18/2007

In order to block an “open hole,” North Korean authorities have been installing mobile phone detectors on the northern border to prevent further defectors from leaving the country.

In a phone conversation with family in Hoiryeong, Kim Man Sung (55, pseudonym) a defector residing in Yangchon, Seoul discovered on the 15th “In the neighborhood of Hoiryeong, 6 mobile phone detectors have been installed” and that “if a phone call is received, the detectors activate within a minute and trace your whereabouts.”

In the past, if a person was caught being in contact with South Korea, they would receive punishment from the labor training camps and the matter was over. However, now the National Security Agency are going around saying “if you are caught using a mobile phone, you and all your family will be expelled from your village,” informed Kim. In spite of this, no one knows the make of the detectors set up along the border, nor its performance quality.

For the past 3 years Kim has acted as an intermediary for South Korean families and defectors in search of their relatives on location at the border. He said “Particularly because of intensified border controls, we are experiencing many difficulties.”

He said “Lately, whenever the police (officers from the Safety Agency) board the trains they conduct ‘fastidious inspections’ on city dwellers” and added “The Safety Agency incessantly inspects lodging facilities and motels regulating citizens that may be roaming near the border in attempt to contact their family.” It seems that the ‘fastidious inspections’ are being strictly enforced.

Since mid-December, North Korean authorities have established 5 united forces with the aim of conducting extensive control. These groups, the Party, National Security Agency, Safety Agency, prosecutors and military security will enforce action and punish boarder guards who receive bribes and help defectors.

As inspections tighten, the expenses of defectors secretly crossing to China has also increased. In the region of Hoiryeong, Musan, defecting to China would cost 400~500 yuan per person but now the disbursements have exceeded 1,000 yuan and in Haesan the price has even reached 2,000~3,000 yuan.

Recently, rather than receiving bribes from individual defectors, boarder guards have been reluctant to receive bribes from families. Though there is a possibility that individuals may return it is rare that families return and hence the greater investment lies on individuals. Also, if a defector is caught by Chinese police and repatriated, there is a possibility that the escape route will be discovered. In that case, the border patrol in charge of that region will be punished.

More recently, the National Security Agency has reinforced their efforts to catch defectors in China themselves. Kim informed, that the workers of restaurants and hotels in Yanji and Longjing in China, are all staff from the National Security Agency and that more than 90% of visitors to China are connected with the Safety Agency acting as “spies” with orders to aid the abduction of defectors.