Top Headlines from North Korea - February 2024 — Crossing Borders - Helping North Korean Refugees and Orphans

RARE PROTESTS AMONG NORTH KOREAN WORKERS IN CHINA

According to South Korea’s intelligence agency, poor working conditions in China have led to “incidents and accidents” among North Koreans working overseas.
As many as 3,000 North Korean workers reportedly staged a series of protests in China over the course of the past few months, resulting in at least one death and three injuries among North Korean government officials.
A North Korean official who was dispatched to supervise workers at garment factories in China’s northeastern province of Jilin was killed during violent protests between January 11 and 15, as factory workers fought for their unpaid wages which were sent to the ruling Workers’ Party in Pyongyang without their consent or knowledge for many years.
Large-scale protests by North Koreans are almost unheard of, and since most workers sent overseas are from privileged families in Pyongyang, analysts believe that if this first known display of organized defiance against the regime is successful, it would present an unprecedented political challenge to Kim’s administration.

A group of 100 Russian tourists became the first batch of foreign sightseers to visit North Korea since the pandemic.
The exclusive tour highlights strengthened ties and cooperations between the two countries following a meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin last September.
According to the Russian embassy, the group will spend four days taking in the sights and visiting a major ski resort.
As many Russians face difficulties traveling to Europe and the U.S. due to sanctions on Russia following the Russia-Ukraine War, North Korea has been recommended as an alternative vacation destination by Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

A South Korean research group recently released a rare footage showing North Korean teenagers punished for watching and distributing South Korean dramas.
The narrated footage appeared to show two teenagers, flanked by two adults in military-style uniforms, standing on a stage in front of hundreds of students.
The narrator claimed that the two 16-year-olds were caught “watching and distributing puppet regime’s recordings,” and since “they were seduced by foreign culture, ultimately ruining their future paths,” they were each sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.
It is interesting to note that, even though consuming and sharing foreign media in North Korea can be punishable by death, 83 percent of defectors who escaped the country between 2016 and 2020 reportedly used increasingly sophisticated means to access foreign music, TV shows and films before they left, while illegal media consumption had increased by 15 percent compared with the previous five-year period.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service recently confirmed that a staff member of the presidential office’s personal email account was hacked by North Korea last November.
The cyber-attack occurred ahead of President Yoon Suk-yeol's state visit to France and the UK.
According to a high-ranking government source, the hackers accessed President Yoon’s trip schedule and stole messages sent by Yoon. The source added that the office was “beyond shocked and appalled” to learn about the breach, as it could have caused problems for Yoon’s security abroad.
In response to what is believed to be the first successful cyber-attack by the North on the South Korean president’s team, the office released a statement explaining that “The breach was caused by a careless violation of security regulations by an individual administrator who used a commercial email for work purposes.”
The office further said that necessary measures have been taken to prevent a recurrence and that cyber intrusions by foreign entities are continuously being monitored.