INCREASED SURVEILLANCE IN CHINA-NORTH KOREA BORDER REGIONS
North Korea’s Ministry of State Security issued an order to “closely watch and punish behavior that harms internal order” amidst rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Local branches along the China-North Korea border were asked to ensure that “not one single incident or accident occurs” by immediately arresting those who continue to use illegal mobile phones and subjecting them to public trials and criminal punishments.
Authorities in Yanggang province near the China-North Korea border began reemphasizing an August 2020 decree which placed night time curfews on residents because China and other countries are still suffering from Covid-19, resulting in the border being “unsafe.” The provincial branch warned locals that the curfew remains in force until next year.
However, it appears many North Koreans are willing to protect each other as the authorities intensify public surveillance due to distrust toward the government, with a source telling DailyNK that, “while commoners are suffering from daily food shortages, the leadership doesn’t care if they live or die because their bellies are full.”
Source:
https://www.dailynk.com/english/north-korea-security-agency-calls-tightened-surveillance-people-border-region/
https://www.dailynk.com/english/n-korean-government-again-emphasizes-nighttime-curfews-in-border-region/
NORTH KOREA WORKERS SENT TO RUSSIA ESCAPE AFTER LEARNING THEY ARE BEING SHIPPED TO UKRAINE
An increasing number of North Korean construction workers in Russia fled their duty stations and went into hiding after being told that they would be sent to wait for assignments in war-torn Russian-controlled areas in Ukraine.
Although the North Korean government controls media within its borders, citizens overseas are well aware of Russia’s invasion.
There is a high demand for construction amid the Ukraine-Russia conflict, particularly in Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
A source told Radio Free Asia that, “The Workers are shaken by the news. … Pyongyang in early September ordered the dispatching companies to gather workers and put them on standby instead of taking on new work where they are currently dispatched.”
Management officials also chose to flee their posts upon learning about the impending deployment.
Meanwhile, even Russians have been attempting to flee their own country, with 23 Russians reaching South Korea by sea since late September, but most were refused entry.
Source:
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/ukraine-10052022185441.html
https://www.reuters.com/world/russians-fleeing-putins-call-up-sail-skorea-most-refused-entry-report-2022-10-12/
NORTH KOREA GRANTS AMNESTY TO NON-SOCIALIST CITIZENS AND PARDONS COVID RULE BREAKERS
North Korean authorities are offering amnesty to people who leaked government propaganda to South Korea if they turn themselves in and expose others by the end of the month.
The amnesty is only available to ordinary citizens, as government officials guilty of the crime would not be forgiven.
The government fears that copies of propaganda materials given out at lectures provided by the Propaganda and Agitation Department might be used by organizations, media or intelligence in the South to gain information about Pyongyang and how it keeps its people in the dark.
A source told Radio Free Asia that, “The authorities threatened that if the residents do not turn themselves in during the surrender period, they and their family members would be sent to a political prison camp.”
Sources added that the government tend to offer amnesty to citizens for “non-socialist behavior” whenever there is tension within or outside the country, or when public morale is low.
In addition, North Korea was expected to pardon some political prisoners for minor violations of emergency quarantine regulations in the last three years based on “a general review of the prisoners’ attitude toward reform, how they carried out their disciplinary labor tasks, issues regarding their ideological attitudes are more.”
However, it is unclear whether the pardons actually happened, as they are rare among prisoners at political prison camps operated by the Ministry of State Security, which are deemed “total control zones” – once prisoners go in, most never leave.
A source told DailyNK that the pardons appear to aim at demonstrating the “magnanimity and consideration of the Workers’ Party” and “would be the first time it’s happened in the Supreme Leader’s 10 years in office.”
Source:
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/amnesty-10062022184040.html
https://www.dailynk.com/english/north-korea-set-pardon-prisoners-accused-breaking-covid-19-regulations/
NORTH KOREA REMAINS UNSTOPPABLE IN MISSILE DEVELOPMENT
North Korea fired its fifth ballistic missile in just over a week across Japan’s northern Hokkaido and Aomori prefectures for the first time in five years on October 4, 2022, prompting the government to urge citizens to seek shelter from falling debris.
North Korea further launched its sixth missile test near the border with South Korea hours after the South detected 10 North Korean warplanes flying 12km to the border on October 14, 2022.
Pyongyang carried out a record number of weapon launches in 2022 and Seoul imposed its first unilateral sanctions against the North in nearly five years for missile development.
China and Russia later blamed U.S. military drills for provoking North Korea during an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting.
Source:
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/03/1126660435/north-korea-ballistic-missile-japan
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/04/north-korea-fires-missile-over-japan-prompting-warnings-for-residents-to-shelter
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/13/north-korean-aircraft-buzz-south-korea-border-fighters-scrambled
https://www.nknews.org/2022/10/security-council-fails-to-condemn-north-korean-missile-test-over-japan/
