North Korea

[Sakon Shima]

Collapse Highlights Poor Construction Record

Lee Sang Yong | 2014-05-19 20:52

Longstanding concerns over the condition of North Korean buildings have reemerged following the collapse of a 23-story apartment building in downtown Pyongyang on May 13th. The collapsed apartment was part of a residential complex initiated on the orders of Kim Jong Il and completed under Kim Jong Eun.

According to defectors, the teams mobilized for the construction were made up of servicemen affiliated with the Ministry of People’s Security, and did not include experienced construction workers. Moreover. like the majority of other construction projects in the country, the site suffered from a chronic lack of good quality concrete and steel reinforcements. On those occasions where materials do become available on state projects of this nature, rampant corruption and the disincentives of socialist means of production mean that they are regularly siphoned off and sold.

The apartments formed part of Kim Jong Il era plans to modernize Pyongyang. With an intended completion date of December 2012, construction began in September 2009 in 13 different districts of Pyongyang. However, in 2011 and with the impossibility of completing all projects now clear, the construction of prominent apartments on Changjeon Street in the central Mansudae District was prioritized, and workers were moved there to meet the demand.

At the time, sources reported to Daily NK that the authorities had shifted factory workers to work on residential dwellings on the outskirts of Pyongyang, but as resources all went to the core project resentment grew amid accusations of incompetence.

After Kim Jong Eun came to power, there appeared to be little interest in the project to build "100,000 homes in Pyongyang." The Kim regime is now absorbed in construction projects that cater to specific professions, such as satellite and military scientists and engineers, along with academics from Kim Il Sung University.

Requesting anonymity, one senior defector explained to Daily NK, “Kim Jong Eun goes back and forth. On the one hand he focuses on building up Changjeon Street as part of ‘gift politics’ for high-ranking cadres. It's like he has nothing to do with this particular collapse. If anyone must pay for this collapse of this apartment, it’s Kim Jong Eun.”

Furthermore, the defector said, “The residences on Changjeon Street were completed within a year. It may be that the harmful effects of North Korea’s focus on ‘speed’ cannot be avoided. Only the homes of the top leadership are constructed with high-grade cement, and with the exception of these, it’s not considered at all strange that buildings in the North could crumble and fall at any time.”

 

[Sakon Shima]

North Korea appoints new ambassador to Cuba

Five-month vacancy ends for top position at embassy reportedly involved in illicit arms trade

May 18th, 2014
John G. Grisafi

The Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly – North Korea’s legislature – officially confirmed the appointment of Pak Chang Yul as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s new ambassador to the Republic of Cuba, the KCNA reported Saturday.

The DPRK-Cuba relationship is among the most important in Pyongyang’s foreign relations. North Korea and the Caribbean island nation are both pariah states subject to sanctions. They are both adversaries of the United States and both lost what had been their biggest benefactor with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War in 1991.

Like other pariah states – especially those few remaining bastions of communism – North Korea and Cuba see mutual benefit in maintaining good relations and cooperating to survive in the face of international opposition and sanctions. The DPRK embassy in Havana is critical in conducting arms deals and other illicit transactions between North Korea and Cuba, including the Chong Chon Gang incident.

In July 2013, the North Korean cargo vessel Chong Chon Gang was found to be carrying weapons from Cuba to North Korea during a search when transiting the Panama Canal. Cuba admitted to shipping the weapons – which included anti-aircraft missiles, two MiG-21 fighter jets, and 15 jet engines – to North Korea, but claimed they did so legally for routine repairs.

Little is known about Pak, whose appointment comes five months after the position was vacated. The previous ambassador to Cuba, Jon Yong Jin, was recalled – and likely arrested if not executed – in December as part of the purge of Jang Song Taek and his associates. Jon was Jang’s brother-in-law.

Two other ambassador postings whose holders were purged in December – in Malaysia and Sweden – remain officially vacant. In all of these cases, it’s likely North Korea’s deputy chief-of-mission in each country has filled the role of acting ambassador.

Photo: Composite (Flags: Wikimedia Commons | DPRK embassy in Havana: Flickr by Thomas Peddle)

 

[Sakon Shima]

North Korean body slams Sewol ‘massacre,’ says Park deserves death

Pyongyang’s criticism of tragedy’s handling not slowing despite own apartment building fiasco

May 19th, 2014
Rob York

A North Korean agency on Monday blasted South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s administration’s handling of the Sewol sinking, claiming they bore responsible for a “massacre” and deserved a death sentence.

Over the weekend, North Korea admitted to its own tragedy, the collapse of an apartment building in Pyongyang, and government officials publicly accepted responsibility for an accident that may have claimed hundreds of lives.

This most recent statement, originating with the Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, indicates that the North’s stance on the tragic ferry sinking, claiming the lives of nearly 300 people, mostly recent high school students, has not softened despite its own tragedy.

The statement said that, combined with the unsafe conditions leading up to the sinking, the poor handling of the rescue indicates the sinking was planned and is equivalent to murder.

“The puppet group bought the old ferry at a cheap price and did not do proper overhaul and servicing,” the statement read. North Korea has long referred to South Korea’s government as “puppets” of imperialist forces, particularly the United States.

“On the contrary, it enlarged spaces for cabins and cargo far beyond the security level with an aim to increase profits, thus seriously breaching the norms of security and balance of the ferry.

“Rescue fittings were too old to operate.”

The statement also said that the captain and crew of the Sewol were unqualified “temporary employees.” The captain, who has been arrested and charged with murder following public outcry over his prompt departure from the sinking vessel as so many others remained trapped, is “worse than an animal,” the statement read.

Three other crew have been charged along with the captain.

However, most of their criticism was aimed at the Park administration and South Korean government in general.

“The ferry Sewol disaster was, indeed, an inevitable product of the reactionary and corrupt south Korean social system in which the life of people is not worth a fly and money is omnipotent, and of the unpopular rule enforced by the Park Geun-hye group,” it said. The lower-case “s” in “South Korea” reflects the North Korean view that the South Korean government is illegitimate.

“Park, who appeared at the headquarters for coping with the disaster 8 hours after the occurrence of the ferry, went so ridiculous as to ask why it was so difficult to find out those missing as they were reportedly wearing life jackets, unaware of the fact that the schoolchildren all drowned stuck inside the ferry,” it said. “Such behavior of Park stunned the public.”

The statement also criticized Park for receiving U.S. President Barack Obama in late April during the tragedy instead of “taking timely measures.”

“All facts go to prove that the disaster was not simply caused by the Park group’s irresponsibility and incompetence but an unprecedented deliberate murder and a massacre perpetrated by it,” it said.

Park’s approval ratings have dropped sharply since the Sewol disaster, and the statement noted the demonstrations against her government in South Korean society.

“Park deserves death sentence for the ferry tragedy only,” the statement read. “No matter what rhetoric Park and her group may let loose to make a mockery of people’s mindset and the public opinion, they can never evade the responsibility for the massacre.”

North Korea previously sent condolences for the sinking. However, on Sunday, even with its own condolences expressed for victims of the apartment collapse, the state-run Korean Central News Agency posted severalcritical pieces on the South Korean government’s handling of the tragedy.

Over the weekend the Park administration called for an overhaul in response to the tragedy, including the dissolution of the coast guard and stern punishments for officials and businesses that skimp on safety measures.

Picture: Wikimedia Commons

 

[Sakon Shima]

Kim Jong Nam in Jakarta Sighting

Koo Jun Hoe | 2014-05-20 22:24

Kim Jong Eun's half-brother Kim Jong Nam has been photographed dining at an Italian restaurant in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, South Korean news agency YTN reported on the 20th.

Kim was photographed with the chef of the restaurant, which is located in a shopping mall owned by South Korean conglomerate Lotte. It is owned by an influential Japanese businessman.

A Japanese staff member later told YTN that Kim visited the restaurant at lunchtime on May 4th accompanied by two women in their late 30s, and that the group "stayed for around an hour."

This latest sighting confirms that Kim has not been directly affected by the purge and execution of his uncle Jang Song Taek last year, and continues to travel freely.

Offering his analysis of the situation to YTN, regular Daily NK contributor Cheong Seong Chang explained, "Since Jang Song Taek was executed last December, Kim Jong Nam has not made any statements challenging Kim Jong Eun's authority, and has been living quietly abroad. Therefore, North Korea has no particular reason to threaten or harm him."

 

[Sakon Shima]

PUST to turn out first graduates

No S. Korean personnel to attend commencement at university funded by both Koreas

May 20th, 2014
Kang Tae-jun

Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) will turn out its first graduates this year, the Yonhap News Agency reported May 20.

PUST is North Korea’s first privately funded university, jointly planned and founded by both North and South Korea in 2010 along with contributions from groups and individuals from other nations, particularly the United States and China.

An official at the Northeast Asia Foundation (NAFEC), which is in charge of running PUST with North Korea, told Yonhap that there will be a graduation ceremony on May 21 with 44 graduates with master’s degree in subjects including information, communication and food engineering.

Yonhap added that about 100 people from the U.S. and the European countries will participate in the ceremony to celebrate the graduation, but no South Korean personnel have received the green light from the South Korean government to visit North Korea due to tension between two Koreas.

Picture: Uri Tours, Flickr Creative Commons

 

[Sun Jian]

Criminal Code Inciting Border Fears

Kang Mi Jin | 2014-05-21 17:47

The North Korean authorities recently added five extra clauses to Article 60 of the country's criminal code, which pertains to attempts to overthrow the state. The additional clauses codify harsh punishments for acts including illicit communication with the outside world, which could in principle now incur the death penalty.

A source based in North Hamkyung Province told Daily NK on the 20th, “A directive notifying us that the criminal code had changed was conveyed via workplaces earlier in the year. They said that five new clauses have been added to Article 60, and that punishments for each were similar or worse that they had been."

The newly re-codified offenses include: ▲ Illegal phone contact with foreigners, including South Koreans; ▲ Viewing South Korean dramas or DVDs and listening to [foreign] radio broadcasts; ▲ Using or dealing in drugs; ▲ Transnational human and sex trafficking; and ▲ Aiding and abetting defectors and leaking state secrets.

In criminal code revisions made in mid-May of last year, harsh punishments were decreed for a loose basket of acts deemed to be seditious, including political agitation, rioting, and public demonstration. Sedition was one of a litany of charges thrown at Kim Jong Eun’s uncle Jang Song Taek before his execution in December last year.

The nature of the revised punishments provides a stark reflection of the regime’s anxiety at the nature and scale of cross-border activities, the source explained. A minimum of five years “reeducation” or the death penalty can be decreed for those caught communicating with the outside world, a minimum of ten years reeducation is the maximum punishment for simply watching South Korean media or listening to foreign radio, and a minimum of five years reeducation is possible for drug smuggling.

“These days they're working to arrest people calling the South by tapping their phones," the source pointed out. "People do somehow doubt that they’d really execute somebody for calling South Korea, but everyone is still uncomfortable because there is the possibility of being made an example of. Investigations have increased along the border this year, and some people have already been sent off for reeducation as the result of the new amendments.”

Furthermore, “People who speak to the South have to recognize they are now risking their lives. At the time of Kim Jong Il's birthday on February 16th, even people who had traded with China took apart their phones and hid them away; it was that bad.”

Caution is also being taken by those who used to lend out phones for others to use, out of the fear that they too could become a target for the security forces.

“People who had Chinese-made mobile phones used to occasionally grant people’s requests to use them, but now they are likely to reject any such request, saying, ‘I threw it away a long time ago,' and, ‘Don’t you value your life?” the source reported.

Daily NK revealed on May 9th that the authorities recently arrested and internally exiled around 100 people from Pyongyang for viewing or possessing video content produced in South Korea, further indicating the extreme sensitivity of the regime to potential threats to its grip on power.

 

[Sun Jian]

Kim inspects new apartment construction after building collapse accident

N. Korean leadership hopes to show responsibility, reassure populace of building quality and safety

May 21st, 2014
John G. Grisafi

Kim Jong Un and two other senior officials inspected the construction of new apartment houses for educators of Kim Chaek University of Technology in Pyongyang, KCNA reported Wednesday.

This inspection – along with the report on it – was almost certainly intended to reassure people that the leadership is taking serious measures to closely regulate construction quality and building safety in Pyongyang after the collapse of an apartment building under construction in the Phyongchon District of Pyongyang on May 13.

State media has recently made other attempts to depict Kim and others as compassionate and responsible leaders in the aftermath of the accident. Several officials personally accepted blame and responsibility for the building collapse and pledged to prevent a future similar accident.

The initial report on the building collapse stated that Kim “sat up all night, feeling painful after being told about the accident,” and ordered officials to “command the rescue operation to recover from the damage as early as possible.” A KCNA report on Monday of his visit to Taesongsan General Hospital said that Kim “gave an instruction to the KPA to bring (physically weak children) to the Taesongsan General Hospital and take care of their health there.”

The two officials who accompanied Kim were Choe Thae Bok and Ma Won Chun. Choe’s presence was due to his positions as Secretary of Education in the party Central Committee and director of the party’s Science & Education Department, giving him responsibility over matters related to the country’s universities.

But Ma’s responsibilities are directly relevant to the standards of building construction. Ma is a career architect who has been in charge of the capital construction portfolio and was recently made director of the Designing Department of the National Defense Commission, giving him oversight of military construction units such as the one building these apartments, KPA Unit 267.

KPA Unit 267 most recently is known to have built new additions at the Songdowon International Children’s Camp in Wonsan. So-called “soldier-builder” units have constructed many major facilities and buildings throughout North Korea.

According to Michael Madden at NK Leadership Watch, the creation of the NDC Designing Department is intended to place construction units directly under control of an official with architectural experience and expertise like Ma, as opposed to purely under the direction of regular military officers. This change would ostensibly have the purpose of improving the management of and quality of work done by these units.

Photo: Rodong Sinmun

 

[Sun Jian]

U.S. update travel warning for North Korea

Latest warning says that traveling to the DPRK as part of a tour group is not a guarantee against arrest

May 21st, 2014
Hamish Macdonald

The U.S. Department of State have issued an updated travel warning for North Korea on Tuesday, replacing the previous blanket travel warning which was issued on November 19, 2013.

The latest warning, which is similar to its predecessor, contains additional text reminding tourists that traveling within official tour groups, or with registered guides, will not guarantee their safety against arrest.

“In the past 18 months, North Korea detained several U.S. citizens who were part of organized tours,” the warning read, alluding to the detention of North Korea tour operator Kenneth Bae in 2012, 85 year old Korean War veteran Merrill Newman in 2013 and more recently 24 year old Miller Matthew Todd in April.

All three U.S. citizens traveled to North Korea with valid visas prior to their arrest or detention.

“Do not assume that joining a group tour or use of a tour guide will prevent your arrest or detention by North Korean authorities,” the warning continued.

The previous warning in 2013 was the strongest issued for North Korea by the Department of State since U.S. travel to the country was first authorized in 1995.

The November warning was issued amidst the news that Newman had been detained during an official tour and removed from his plane five minutes before it was due to depart for Beijing.

The updated version also adds that tour operators neither have the authority or ability to resolve these issues as they unfold on the ground.

“Efforts by private tour operators to prevent or resolve past detentions of U.S. citizens in the DPRK have not succeeded in gaining their release,” the warning says.

The updated warning retains much of the text of the the one issued in November, alerting U.S. citizens to the dangers unregistered travel, speaking directly to North Korean citizens and for engaging in activities “that would not be considered criminal outside North Korea, including involvement in unsanctioned religious and/or political activities.”

The warning also cautions U.S. citizens travelling to the country that any electronic media such as USBs, CDs, DVDs or laptops in their possession may be searched by North Korean authorities and so information on those devices should be in line with North Korean regulations.

“Please be sure that the information contained on those devices does not violate the laws or regulations of the DPRK, as penalties for knowingly or unknowingly violating North Korea’s laws…can include years of detention in hard labor camps or death,” the warning reads.

Image: Eric Lafforgue Flickr

 

[Sun Jian]

KPA vows to wipe out the South Korean Army “to the last man” – KCNA

North Korea reacts to South Korean navy firing warning shots at DPRK vessels

May 21st, 2014
Hamish Macdonald

The Southwestern Front of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) issued a report on the North Korea state run Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) on Wednesday vowing to “wipe out Park Geun Hye-led Military Hooligans to (the) Last One.”

The article, which contained an open notice from the KPA, was written in response to the South Korean navy firing warning shots at three North Korean patrol boats after they crossed the disputed Northern Limit Line (NLL) maritime border in the Yellow Sea on Tuesday.

The notice said that the actions of the South Korean navy were “a deliberate grave provocative act of firing bullets and shells” and that the KPA now consider all South Korean vessels legitimate “targets of physical strikes which should be blown up without fail.”

The article said that the North Korean patrol boats were operating in the disputed area to check for illegal Chinese fishing operations and that the South Korean navy engaged in “deliberate pre-emptive firing.”

The open notice contains three points from the Command of the Southwestern Front of the KPA that says that all South Korean navy vessels, “will become without exception targets of the direct sighting firing by all strike means under the above-said Command.”

It also states that South Korea can expect military strikes “without warning” should there be any more “provocation near the maritime guard demarcation of its army and around the five islands in the West Sea of Korea.”

The KCNA article finishes by reiterating that the KPA policy is based on their “resolute decision to wipe out the sworn enemy, confrontation maniacs, on this land to the last man.”

The disputed NLL became the de-facto maritime demarcation line following a unilateral decision by the United Nations Command after the signing of the armistice agreement that halted the Korean War in 1953.

The NLL has long been a flashpoint for naval altercations between the two Koreas. In 2010 there were two major clashes, with the sinking of the South Korean naval vessel Cheonan, claiming the lives of 46 sailors, and the shelling of the South Korean Yeonpyeong Island, in which four South Koreans were killed and a further 16 wounded.

Frequent military posturing has also occurred along the NLL throughout the early stages of 2014. On February 24, a North Korean military vessel crossed the NLL multiple times and was pursued by South Korean vessels. The North Koreans fired short range missiles from their western coast on numerous occasions throughout February and March, while on March 31 the two Koreas both fired artillery across the NLL. The most recent incident occurred on April 29 when the DPRK conducted live fire drills near the disputed western maritime border.

 

[Sun Jian]

Defectors: Collapse a "Matter of Time"

Kang Mi Jin | 2014-05-21 12:10

Speculation surrounding the collapse of a 23-story apartment building in Pyongyang last week continues after the North Korean authorities made the rare move of reporting the incident via state media channels. The number of dead and missing are yet to be confirmed.

Although the North publicly acknowledged a deadly explosion at Ryongchon Station in 2004, the regime tends to keep quiet regarding construction accidents in order to avoid drawing attention to government failings. Should a particular incident incur loss of life, people are warned not to spread “groundless rumors” lest the regime find themselves cast in an unfavorable light.

Defectors spoken to by Daily NK believe last week’s collapse was in part due to insufficient and substandard construction materials. In the North, the defectors report, construction work proceeds in an ad hoc manner as cadres siphon off necessary supplies like cement and steel reinforcements for their own gain.

A former laborer with experience on construction sites along Kwangbok Street in Pyongyang revealed, “The government has not carried out construction properly since before the disintegration of the official distribution system in the 1990s. Corruption exists at every stage; from distribution to procurement, from accounts to the building site itself. It is difficult to imagine a well-constructed building in North Korea.”

Moreover, the defector lamented, "It was normal practice for work to be sloppy. Even the steel reinforcements and cement needed for the apartment walls would be taken away. Usually the high-grade cement would disappear and low quality cement would be used in its place. Instead of thick steel bars, we would have to use the thinner and weaker ones."

According to the defector, cheaper alternatives soon became the norm in the face of rampant corruption. "Coal embers and m&d were mixed in with cement and we made the walls that way. Luckily, we were only constructing a four story building and I know that there haven’t been any accidents yet. However, it’s only a matter of time before some of those other high-rise buildings collapse because they too have been built using these tricks.”

“Officials are often mocked by ordinary laborers who use the phrase, ‘Party cadres do it confidently, security agents do it proudly, and laborers do it skillfully,’” a second defector added, explaining that, “Cadres [practice corruption] loudly, the powerful fully utilize their power, and laborers take something for themselves, but not enough to get caught.”

Defectors agree that despite the impressive appearance of many new apartments, corruption at all levels of the construction industry now means that inhabitants are at serious risk in their own homes.

Such an assertion is compounded by reports from inside North Korea itself, with one source conveying to Daily NK, “Just like the 2007 collapse of a seven story apartment building in Hyesan, last week’s collapse may have happened because people modify state-built structures as they wish. Even though it isn’t clear who is responsible, some could well lose their lives if they find themselves blamed for it.”

 

[Sun Jian]

North Korea fires on South Korean patrol boat near Yeonpyeong Island

North Korea carries out threat to shell South Korean naval vessels

May 22nd, 2014
Hamish Macdonald

North Korea fired artillery rounds at a South Korean navy patrol boat, the ROKS Yoon Youngha, on Thursday evening near the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong, South Korean media have reported.

North Korea launched shells near the ROK Navy PKG-711 patrol boat situated 14km from Yeonpyeong Island, though no damage to the vessel or casualties have so far been confirmed.

Ten shells were fired and five shots were fired back, Yonhap News said, adding that only two of the shells crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL) landing approximately 150m from the vessel.

An official from the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) confirmed the patrol boat was on the South Korean side of the NLL at the time of the attack and that fire was returned before the boat retreated, Yonhap added.

Residents of the nearby Yeonpyeong island were ordered to evacuate at 6:30PM KT, with an alert siren sounding on the island from 7PM KT, TV Chosun said. Fishing boats in the area have all been ordered back to port for safety, with the JCS on stand by in case of further artillery attacks by North Korea.

“NK started shooting without notice, and we ran to the shelter after we heard the siren ringing with the announcement, “It’s not a drill,” a Yeonpyeong resident told the Chosun Ilbo.

Min Kyung-wook, a Blue House spokesperson, said that the attack was reported to President Park Geun-hye immediately. Min added that Kim Kyu-hyun, first deputy director at National Security Office, was in charge of the situation as Kim Jang-soo, former head of department, had resigned.

“Prior to the incident, Pyongyang slammed the South for firing warning shots near Korean People’s Army ships on 20 May,” said Andrea Berger, a researcher at the Royal United Services Institute in London.

“It warned that any South Korean ships that recklessly maneuvered in sensitive waters would be treated similarly. This is a clear attempt to pre-emptively frame today’s skirmish as a proportional response and convince onlookers that ‘Seoul started it’,” Berger added.

But Berger wonders whether North Korea “fired ‘near’ the South Korean vessels and missed deliberately, or fired directly at the ships and missed inadvertently.

“The former is a carefully planned move designed to signal resolve, the latter is reckless and potentially escalatory. Similarly, Seoul can afford politically to let the former pass with only condemnatory words, but the latter will be much more difficult to ignore,” Berger said.

WEDNESDAY WARNING

The attack comes one day after the Southwestern Front of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) issued a report via North Korean state media threatening to attack South Korean naval vessels in the area.

The KPA said that due to warning shots fired Tuesday by the South Korean navy towards North Korean vessels, all South Korean vaval vessels, “will become without exception targets of the direct sighting firing by all strike means under the above-said Command.”

The KPA said Tuesday’s warning shots were “a deliberate grave provocative act of firing bullets and shells,” adding that the North Korean vessels had been operating in the disputed area to check for illegal Chinese fishing operation.

The South Korean navy issued a response on Thursday saying that they will “mercilessly counterattack” any provocation by North Korea.

The disputed NLL became the de-facto maritime demarcation line following a unilateral decision by the United Nations Command after the signing of the armistice agreement that halted the Korean War in 1953.

The NLL has long been a flashpoint for naval altercations between the two Koreas. In 2010 there were two major clashes, with the sinking of the South Korean naval vessel Cheonan, claiming the lives of 46 sailors, and the shelling of the South Korean Yeonpyeong Island, in which four South Koreans were killed and a further 16 wounded.

Picture: Flickr Commons – Jeff Head

 

[Sun Jian]

Security Forces Sweet Talking the Suicidal

Seol Song Ah | 2014-05-22 19:08

The North Korean authorities have been making conciliatory noises to try and lure back people found to have overstayed family visit visas to China, claiming that “If you return to the loving embrace of the General, you will not be blamed in any way.”

The authorities ordinarily maintain a system of tight control and surveillance over such families, sources say. However, “The method used by the State Security Department (SSD) to keep tabs on those families has changed,” one such source from western North Pyongan Province told Daily NK on the 21st. “The agents used only to make a fuss about catching people; but now they are going to the homes of people abroad illegally to try and persuade their families that ‘No harm will be done if they return now, so make them return to the embrace of the General.’”

The strategy seems to have emerged out of the realization that threats are not enough to make people return home. Indeed, they may have the opposite effect. Therefore, the authorities have moved to a strategy of carrots and sticks.

To apply for a visa to travel abroad for private reasons, the applicant requires the signature of three or more guarantors. Also, the head of the applicant’s people’s unit, local administrative office, local Party head, and local head of the Ministry of Public Security must all sign off on it before it can be submitted to the external affairs section of the State Security Department, whose local head then makes the final decision.

If the visa recipient then overstays her visa or disappears after it expires, the agent in charge will face censure from above. To avoid this kind of situation, the State Security Department has changed its strategy. Rather than using intimidation tactics, it is seeking to induce overstayers to return.

The source said, “It is so weird that these agent from State Security, people who used to make threats like ‘Is there no contact? If X does not quickly return, a search team will be dispatched,’ has suddenly become kind. They are probably trying various tactics as the criticism on this issue from the Upper [Central Party] is continuous.”

However, “Believing the sweet talk of the Ministry of State Security is suicidal,” the source pointed out. “Most people know that you have to properly understand the whims of North Korean politics to survive, and thus the soft-line policy is not going to be effective.”

 

[Sun Jian]

Hyesan Man Executed as Example for Rest

Kang Mi Jin | 2014-05-22 18:38

The death sentence has been imposed upon at least one person caught making phone contact with South Korea from a location near the Sino-North Korean border, Daily NK has learned via detailed, exclusive testimony from a source in the region.

“At the beginning of this year they amended the criminal code,” the source reported to Daily NK on the 22nd. “Then, in Hyesan someone got executed as an example to the rest.”

According to the source, the execution came amidst an extensive campaign against cellphone users, smugglers, and people aiding and abetting defections, which began last year and has continued into 2014. The victim, a 49-year old stage lighting engineer called Ri Kyung Ho, was executed in March. His execution, though not public, was used as an example to others, and his family has been incarcerated in a State Security Department (SSD) facility.

“Ri Kyung Ho was caught out of town by an SSD agent with a signal detector. He’d been calling his family in South Chosun” the source said, explaining the background to the man’s arrest. “He probably didn’t have time to take the phone apart and hide it before SSD agents got to his house.”

In the course of Ri’s subsequent interrogation, it reportedly emerged that not only had he been making regular phone calls, but had also been involved in remittance transfers from South Korea and aiding and abetting defections.

“He seems to have started by conveying money from defectors to their families, but then began to help people who asked him to send their families to China,” the source said. “Some people are asking why he was killed just because of the money thing, but there are a few who were close to him and his wife, and they say it was because he had been helping defections.”

“In times gone by you could bribe your way out of this, but right now they’re sure to punish you. Nobody knows when or why they might get caught up in it, so everyone is nervous,” she said. “Anyone who uses a cellphone to call ‘that way’ or ‘the other way’ [meaning South Korea or China] is scared.”

“The rumor now is that Ri Kyung Ho’s elder brother Ri Song Ho, who is deputy head of a children’s film production team, and his younger brother Ri Chang Keun, who is a senior member of a state merited chorus ensemble, are facing punishment, too,” the source added.

Daily NK reported yesterday on the revised criminal code. For more information, see the attached article below.

 

[Sun Jian]

​

 

[Sun Jian]

At Least 400 Feared Dead in Pyongyang Apartment Collapse

chosun.com / May 23, 2014 12:11 KST

The death toll from the high-rise apartment collapse in Pyongyang on May 13 stands at more than 400, sources said Thursday.

Authorities are clearing debris from the site of the building collapse and have placed a camouflage net over the ruin in order to prevent exposure to satellite photos.

One source familiar said, "There is talk that around 400 to 490 people were killed in the accident. The building collapsed around 5 to 6 p.m. so many kids had come home from school by then, and there were many women and elderly people as well."

The high-rise apartment that collapsed had yet to be completed, but residents had already started moving in around late November since only some interior jobs were left to be finished. Around 92 households were living in the building when it collapsed.

They apparently included members of North Korea's State Security Department and Workers Party officials as well as members of the commercial elite who had apparently paid more than US$30,000 each.

Another source said, "North Korean officials were quick to apologize after the accident because most of the residents were key officials protecting [North Korean leader] Kim Jong-un."

The state-run Rodong Shinmun daily ran a photo of a high-ranking official bowing to residents, but the scene of the shot was another apartment close to the building that collapsed.

"Authorities staged the shot by having residents gather in front of a pink building nearby that was standing perfectly tall," a source said.

A Unification Ministry official here said this shows how keen the regime is not to show the scene of the actual accident.

The regime started a massive redevelopment drive for downtown Pyongyang in June 2011.

 

[SpaceTruckin]

Pyongyang has deep pockets for shark fin from Hong Kong

North Korea is paying top dollar to Hong Kong to import the delicacy, suggesting it's a perk for elite officials in impoverished pariah state

PUBLISHED : Monday, 26 May, 2014, 5:31am
UPDATED : Monday, 26 May, 2014, 10:31am

Ernest Kao [email protected]

North Korea paid HK$3,200 per kilogram for 5kg of shark fin from Hong Kong

North Korea may be poor, but it has for years been buying some of the most expensive shark fin on the market from Hong Kong.

The pariah state's total purchase of 5kg of boneless dried shark fin last year represented a negligible amount of the total premium-quality fin re-exported from the city.

But the HK$3,200 per kilogram it paid stood out as one of the highest prices paid by any country in the world, and was roughly four times North Korea's average per-capita income.

By comparison, Vietnam bought nearly a million kilograms of the same type of fin from Hong Kong last year - but at an average price of just HK$48 per kilogram.

The only country to fork out more per kilogram of premium fin was China, which paid HK$3,243 per kilogram for 288kg of dried fin with bone.

North Korea has for years been an importer of Hong Kong fins and has consistently paid some of the highest prices for them.

In 2007, the country imported a record 1,753kg of dried fin from Hong Kong at a price of HK$4,387 per kilogram. And in 2011, it imported just 20kg of dried fin but at a hefty HK$2,850 per kilogram.

By contrast, Singapore, Hong Kong's top re-export market that year, paid just HK$927 per kilogram for 52,251kg of the same type in 2011.

No fins were imported by North Korea in 2012 - the same year its new leader, Kim Jong-un, rose to power.

Ricky Leung Lak-kee, chairman of the Hong Kong Marine Products Association, said one possible explanation was that top North Korean officials may have been purchasing shark fin for their own consumption.

He said the only type of dried-fin product to reach prices as high as HK$3,000 per kilogram were lower caudal lobe fins, which were the top of the line.

Hong Kong trade statistics and harmonisation codes do not identify the species of shark a fin comes from, but 60 per cent of its fin re-exports are blue shark fins.

Officials of the Stalinist regime have gained notoriety for spending lavishly on imported goods from European cars to Cuban cigars, even as millions live in abject poverty there.

A few years ago, Kenji Fujimoto - the personal chef of late leader Kim Jong-il, who later defected - told of having to fly around the world for exotic and expensive delicacies, including premium sashimi from Japan and cognac from France.

Scott Snyder, a veteran North Korea watcher and senior fellow for Korea Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, said: "It is absolutely plausible that shark fin would be a preferred delicacy consumed by North Korean elite.

"There is growing income inequality in North Korea and a patronage system by which Kim Jong-un still must satisfy a circle of top elites who are beneficiaries of that system."

A report to the South Korean parliament last year estimated that imports of luxury goods to North Korea totalled US$645.8 million in 2012, nearly double that of Kim's father.

The Hong Kong consulate of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea did not respond to Post inquiries.

Hong Kong imports fin from places including Indonesia, Spain, and Taiwan. The bulk of the fin is then re-exported to the mainland, Macau, Japan and Southeast Asia for consumption or lower-cost processing.

The city is a hub for the global shark-fin trade, taking about half the world's total fin harvest, says WWF-Hong Kong.

In 2012, Hong Kong became North Korea's No2 trading partner, with two-way trade reaching US$111 million, a 457 per cent jump from the year before, according to the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency.

 

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