North Korea in New Funding Drive for 2012

By Kim Yong Hun

The North Korean authorities have reportedly embarked on a drive to push people to contribute funds for ‘the construction of the Strong and Prosperous State.’

According to a source in South Korea who spoke with The Daily NK today, the authorities have dispatched people to places where people tend to gather, around markets or on busy city streets, to give public lectures and extract contributions on the premise that ‘We must advance preparations for the strong and prosperous state for ourselves.’

The source explained, “The North Korean authorities have always compelled contributions from people when they are in financial difficulties; for the construction of Heechon Power Station and 100,000 homes in Pyongyang, for example. Most recently, after holding lectures targeting groups in cities and counties, they have been exploiting people by pushing for contributions.”

Previous examples include this January’s ‘Supporting the Military with Rice’ campaign, whereby those provincial Party secretaries with responsibility for provisions extracted fixed quantities of rice from traders and enterprise cadres and workers within their remit.

In the lectures which are accompanying the campaign, cases from other cities and areas are apparently being compared in an attempt to incite competitive contributing.

The Seoul-based source explained, “In the lecture, they are encouraging people by pointing out that ‘our military struck a blow to the enemy’s island with shells in North Hwanghae Province, so the touched people made strong and prosperous state construction donations.’ In Chongjin, they did not ask how people earned the money, just instructed people to volunteer donations saying 10,000 won is good, 1 million won is also good.”

North Korea: Defector Security Coming Under Scrutiny

By Kim Yong Hun

It came to light yesterday that a North Korean defector has been arrested after the interception of plans to assassinate Park Sang Hak, the head of Fighters for Free North Korea, an organization which sends leaflets carrying anti-Kim regime messages into North Korea by balloon.

The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) is questioning the defector, Ahn, a male in his 40s, who was arrested at a subway station. It is alleged that he possessed poisoned needles, allegedly intended to kill Park, with whom he had attempted to arrange a meeting.

As a result, NIS and the National Police Agency (NPA) have strengthened security for prominent defectors, dispatching full-time guards to protect individuals thought to be at particular risk. Since North Korea has been particularly sensitive about the activity of sending leaflets and has repeatedly threatened to attack the locations and people involved, Lee Min Bok, the director of another such group, 'Campaign for Helping North Korean in a Direct Way', is also among those being protected.

In general, the NPA and intelligence services believe the possibility of attempted terrorist assassinations is low, but cannot rule it out.

Therefore, there are 8 defectors under police guard, including Park and Lee. But security has been strengthened only for Park, at whom the most recent terrorist threat was directed; other defectors’ security is considerably laxer and less formal, which is raising questions about increased risk.

Lee Min Bok said, “The policeman who covers me works hard, but he didn’t know that a stranger once visited my place. There have been several times when I felt unsafe, honestly. I think the police should strengthen security more.”

However, one official connected to the issue told The Daily NK, “We are strengthening security for defectors and leaders of NGOs that criticize the North Korean regime, because the possibility of terrorism always exists. We are working especially rigorously to track down spies who pretend to defect so as to commit terrorist acts ordered by North Korea.”

But he admitted the limits of police powers, saying, “Although we are doing our best for their safety, there is a realistic limit for providing perfect security for them. Strengthening security is related to matters of manpower and budget, so it is more easily said than done.”

Choi Sung Ryong of Family Assembly Abducted to North Korea received 5 years of police protection between 2005 and 2009 after North Korea indicated he could be a target, but the police withdrew his guard because Choi’s face was known to the media, which they said reduced the possibility of terrorism.

However, Choi still receives threatening phone calls, and doesn't actually feel safe.

“I still get phone calls at home that threaten to kill me," he explained. "I can’t conclude that they were ordered by North Korea, but my family as well as I feel threatened whenever I get this kind of phone call.”

Pro-North Deletions Growing Fast

By Kim Tae Hong

The quantity of pro-North Korea or pro-Kim Jong Il comment being discovered and deleted from domestic South Korean websites is 44 times greater now than it was in 2008, according to new figures from South Korea’s National Police Agency (NPA).

Citing statistics obtained from the NPA, GNP lawmaker Park Dae Hae of the Public Administration and Security Committee of the National Assembly revealed today that the NPA requested that the Korea Communications Commission delete such materials on 1793 occasions in 2008, 14,430 in 2009, 80,449 in 2010, and 41,745 in this year to July.

Many of the requested deletions were quotes from the North Korean media simply pasted as-is onto other sites, for example the National Defense Commission’s declaration that it would launch a ‘total war’ in reply to South Korea’s “rash response” to the Cheonan sinking.

However, the NPA have arrested 154 people on suspicion of activities pertaining to pro-North Korea activities on domestic internet sites in the 3 years and 7 months in question; 16 were detained and 138 were not.

Commenting on the statistics, an official connected to the NPA noted, “It is a fair point that statistics could not be kept as rigorously in the past as they are today, but it is also a fact that in the last 2 to 3 years pro-North Korea online activities have been on the rise, because of the Cheonan sinking and Yeonpyeong Island shelling, for example.”

North Korea: Autumnal Corn Wars Breaking Out

By Lee Seok Young

Farmers around Hoiryeong are having their worst fears realized, facing attacks on their crops by groups of soldiers coming to steal from the already limited corn crop.

A source from the North Hamgyung Province city explained the situation yesterday, saying, “Things are not good this year because of natural phenomena and a lack of fertilizer, so there is not much corn as it is; but farmers also can’t sleep at night for fear of raids by soldiers. Around Yuseon Farm, prison guards and border patrol units are fighting over territory and emptying out the place, which has driven young discharged soldiers and their families to stand watch, armed with clubs.”

At this time of year, North Korea’s farmers construct storage facilities to house yields taken in beginning in the middle of last month. The corn is usually distributed to farm workers after it has been dried, so of course the workers are doing all they can to prevent the military from taking their main lifeline.

For their part, the reason why soldiers are engaging in this behavior is mainly that they are being supplied with much smaller rations than they used to get; the General Logistics Bureau, the section of the Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces which is officially responsible for feeding them, has handed down orders abrogating responsibility and telling each individual unit to feed themselves.

“Although they are also hungry right now, it seems like they are already competing to solve their winter food problems,” the source noted.

According to the source, the area suffers particularly because the headquarters of both the No. 5 Battalion of the No. 335 Prison Guard Regiment and a brigade of the Border Guard Regiment are based in the Gyerim area of Hoiryeong, of which Yuseon Farm is also a part. These troops appear to be using Yuseon Farm as a private grain store, coming and going at all times of the day and night.

However, a former officer with the Prison Guard Regiment told The Daily NK, “The guard regiment is a reserve-level force made up of factory laborers who go to receive training in correctional operations for a certain period of time, so for that reason there aren’t many soldiers in active service at any given moment. If you ask me, the ones raiding Yuseon Farm are probably the border guards.”

“When I was still there the prison guards lived well,” the former officer continued. “The laborers used to go to training quite happily and of their own volition because food was plentiful and it was better than being at home. But having heard that they now have to make their own lunchbox to take along to training, it sounds like the food situation has gotten pretty bad.”

The source from Hoiryeong added more, saying, “Apart from a couple of officers involved in smuggling, those who entered the military the day before yesterday were malnourished and couldn’t walk properly. According to one soldier who got caught trying to steal corn by some former soldiers defending their farm, each squad has been ordered by central command to obtain 200kg of corn by the 1st of December.”

“They’re choosing now to strike because it’s easier to steal the corn while it’s laid out to dry outside or in hastily boarded storerooms. Once it has been threshed and warehoused it’s not so easy to get at,” he explained.

Why don't westerners provide for their parents?

We heard a lot about westerners life style, like independant, open mind, fkk everywhere.......but some of things confuse me all the time, everyone coming from their parents, then parent feed kids, raise them to grow up, get education, teaching them everything.

In China, when children turn into an adult and earn living, we always pay back to our parent by part of our salary, for me, I give my Mom almost a half of my salary each month. but I never take that as a money issue, I think it's a kind of grateful mind, your parent born you, raise you, they paid out their time, their kind, their patience, their energy....... so we should appreciate back to them by all we have......

so but why westerners leave home when he 18 years old, some people even never meet their parent again after leaving......... do u hate ur parent to bring u to this world or what? and why don't u appreciate for your parent kindness on raising you, accompany you all the time when u were kid........

it's so strange, I'm wondering.........

WFP Video: Desperate and dying of hunger - Pyongyang

by Joseph Yun Li-sun

The World Food Programme has just released a video revealing the critical food shortage in North Korea. A local sources tells AsiaNews: “This is nothing new for those who work in the field, but to allow such an undertaking Pyongyang must be really desperate ”.  

Seoul– The video, shown yesterday by WFP, “ shows nothing new to those who, sadly, are all too familiar with the situation in North Korea DPRK. But it is a new and most important signal: Pyongyang is now willing to open its borders to food aid, and even to allow international organisations to film and show a video. They must be really desperate”.

AsiaNews was told this by a South Korean source who takes semi regular trips transporting humanitarian aid and medicines over the border into North Korea. The video in question was released yesterday on the WFP web site and can be seen here. The video, filmed in the DPRK by Jonathan Dumont WFP’s Head of TV Communications, reveals the faces of the famine which has hit the regime.


Floods and starvation have plunged the people of North Korea among the world's poorest. The government, for its part, uses any money it manages to make to finance its military and the insane expenses of the ruling oligarchy, headed by Kim Jong-il and his third son and heir, Kim Jong-un. Following episodes of military and nuclear provocation in the last two years, loans to the country from the international community were cut.

Still today, the source told AsiaNews, “only a few local protestant Churches and, occasionally, the local Catholic charity CARITAS South Korea, are given permission by the Seoul government to transport humanitarian aid over the border to N. Korea. Unfortunately that regime has exaggerated, and the South has no desire to appear feeble in the eyes of the West. From the video it is clear that the situation is desperate. We hope and we pray for a change in that Communist leadership: only a change can save the people in the North ”.

(AsiaNews)  

Buddhist monks from South to visit North for a religious rite

Seoul has granted permission on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of one of the most important relics of Korean Buddhism. The group, composed of 37 persons, includes the head of the Jogye Order.

Seoul - A delegation of South Korean Buddhist monks, including the head of the largest religious order in the country, will visit North Korea to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of the Tripitaka, one of the most important Buddhist relics in the peninsula. The Unification Ministry in Seoul has granted permission "for purely religious reasons", for the group to meet a delegation of faithful and visit various temples in the communist run North.

This is the first official visit by a non-humanitarian delegation since May 24, 2010, when Seoul placed a total ban of all forms of cooperation with the North. Pyongyang is considered responsible for the sinking of a Southern navy vessel – an attack that killed 42 Korean sailors - and the bombing of a small island where a civilian was killed.

A representative of the Ministry confirmed the permit: "This is a group of 37 people, including the leader of the Jogye Order. The group will leave on September 3 to visit the Bohyun temple in Mount Mohyang. Here, a ceremony will be celebrated with a delegation of North Korean Buddhists. Permission was given for the anniversary of the Tripitaka, which is part of the spiritual heritage of all Koreans. "

The relic is made up of more than 80 thousand blocks of wood, carved 1000 years ago, containing all Buddhist scriptures. It is currently stored at Haeinsa, a temple which is located in South Korea, but was recorded and found in the northern part of Korea. The Kim regime does not allow any religious worship outside cult of the nation’s leader, but some Buddhists – who many believe "false" – are active in the country.


(AsiaNews)

Seoul buys high-precision missiles to challenge Pyongyang

After the military provocations of the last two years, the government of the South has decided to buy (from Israel) a high-precision missile battery. It wants to deploy them on the border with the North. One analyst: "It will never arrive at war. China has lost the will to fight for Pyongyang. " 

Seoul - South Korea is ready to buy, a battery consists of 50 high-precision missiles from Israel, capable of defending the islands from an attack by the North Korean regime. These will be deployed on two islands under the control of Seoul at the border with North Korea: using GPS technology, they are capable of stopping heavy artillery.

Seoul seems to have decided to get tough, at least from a military standpoint, against a Pyongyang which - over the past two years - have twice attacked Southern targets, first the Cheonan was sunk killing 46 sailors and second, the island of Yeonpyeong, was bombed in November, leaving 2 civilians and 2 soldiers dead.

Public opinion in the South has strongly criticized the government’s weak response to the provocations of the North, which focuses on military might to maintain the Kim dynasty in power. The purchase of the missiles signals the will of the South to return fire if attacked.

However, Professor Andrei Lankov - Professor of Korean Studies at the University of Seoul – says "the issue is almost entirely in the hands of China. Pyongyang, left alone, has no means to face a serious conflict. Certainly it has the weapons, and of course the atomic bomb, but it knows that might end up hurting itself or the Chinese giant and is afraid. Beijing, for its part, will not fight for a regime that it does not need any more. "

According to the academic, "China has made the path that North Korea must follow very clear: partial market liberalization and opening to foreign capital, along the lines of the openings of Deng Xiaoping. But Kim fears that, following this road, he will be undermined and prefers alternating military provocations and signs of openness. Until a few years ago, Beijing approved this strategy but now no longer has the desire, or money, to go to war for them. " 


(AsiaNews)

North Korea - WFP Video Reveals Current Hardships

By Park Seong Guk

On Monday, the World Food Programme released a new video, ‘The Face of Hunger in DPR Korea’, showing the struggles of the North Korean people hit hardest by bad weather and food shortages during 2011.

The video reveals the limitations of orphanages even in Pyongan Provinces, the agricultural heartland of North Korea, the lack of raw materials at a plant to produce high-nutrition biscuits, and notes official estimates that 60% of the rice crop in Jagang Province has been lost.














▲ Damaged homes, lost roads and destroyed crops characterize the video (video capture, ©WFP)

Watch the video here

Pyongyang Seeing Tighter Inspections

By Lee Seok Young

With the border area enveloped in ‘Storm Trooper Unit’ inspections, operations against South Korean goods have been stepped up in distant Pyongyang, according to a man from the city who talked to the Daily NK in Dandong, China on Tuesday.

“Inspections by ‘Group 109’, which has been around for a while, have gradually become more intense,” the man, Kim, explained. “Worst of all, they are showing up in the middle of the night without warning to search for CDs, DVDs and recorders, and if there are any materials such as pornography or South Korean merchandise, then the offender is taken away. There are no exceptions.”

“In the past when the National Security Agency or People’s Safety Ministry came to inspect, people would pay them to let it slide, but nowadays the authorities send an agent from both of those agencies and the Defense Security Command as a team, which makes it hard to get out of it if you get caught,” he added.

A Daily NK source from Pyongyang confirmed the story, saying that as recently as July one could escape Group 109 punishment for watching South Korean or American DVDs with a bribe of $100 in central Pyongyang, or less in the surrounding areas.

Group 109 is an organization set up by the Chosun Workers’ Party to crack down on illegal media including CDs and DVDs. The group is one of a number of ‘Gruppas’, as they are locally known, currently operating in the capital, with others including Group 622, which handles juvenile delinquency, and Group 27, actually a branch of the Defense Security Command, which deals with mobile phone usage.

The various groups have been conducting their assorted inspections to weed out myriad ‘anti-socialist’ behavior for some time, but bribery has always provided an escape route, albeit while those without money or connections were made an example of. However in recent times, allegedly since successor Kim Jong Eun ordered more intense inspections and punishments, the ‘Gruppas’ have had to take their tasks more seriously.

The volume of South Korean goods trading in the market has contracted due to the recent crackdowns, but their popularity is undiminished; evasion of inspections is apparently being achieved via house calls to trusted clients. Kim says that the preference is only getting stronger for South Korean goods amongst cadres, a group which has always been safe from inspections.

“The traders go around the city knocking on people’s doors, quietly asking whether the residents would like to buy some South Korean merchandise. For this reason the nickname ‘knock-knocker’ is sometimes used to refer to them,” Kim explained.

North Korea Successor Looks Set for Own Escort

By Lee Seok Young

According to information received on the 25th, members of a new escort unit likely to be for the protection of Kim Jong Eun are being chosen during this year’s conscription process.

A Yangkang Province source revealed the news yesterday, saying, “They have been in the process of selecting conscripts for Escort Command since April. In contrast with other years, it is said that guards for Kim Jong Eun are being selected.”

“The deputy director of the Central Party Guidance Department as well as Escort Command officers and provincial Party cadres have all visited the Military Mobilization Department and shown an interest,” the source went on. “Ultimately, eleven people made the grade.”

According to the source, those who passed were allegedly told, “The place to which you will be deployed is ‘a newly organized escort unit, but we cannot say what the unit name is.” They were supposed to move out on the 23rd, he added, but at the time of writing remained on standby.

According to a source from across in Hoiryeong, North Hamkyung Province, just one person from there was chosen for the new unit.

“23 people were selected from our military in the first round and sent to the Military Mobilization Department; however, all bar one came back having failed,” the source revealed. “According to them, those who passed were not given uniforms and are currently living together in an inn.”

Even the physical requirements for admission have gotten stricter, a military source added, saying, “Previous new members of Escort Command had to be more than 168cm tall, however this time they must be 170cm or taller. The son of the Provincial Party administrative head was picked in the first round, but he was too short so in the end even he did not pass.”

“The lead officer told the cadres from the Military Mobilization Department, ‘It’s a slightly different unit from the Escort Command, and since these are the first to comprise the newly created unit, please look after them well until they leave,’” the military source added, continuing, “While to the eleven new conscripts, he emphasized, ‘Until you leave for the base or arrive there, do not ask or try to find out anything.”

In April every year, upper middle school graduates are given physical examinations and as a result find out whether or not they can enter the military. However, those hoping to make it into Escort Command start earlier, in November of the previous year, with stricter tests of health, personality, family background and appearance. Those who pass the first round are sent to work in the provincial Party, hopefully until they enter the military in August.

However, they undertake further tests on a monthly basis, and anybody who either falls short of the mark in a test or has a problem in the process of their education will fail. Final selections are then overseen by the Guidance Department of the Central Committee of the Chosun Workers’ Party.

Lee Yeong Guk, author of the book ‘I Was Kim Jong Il’s Bodyguard’, wrote that getting into Kim Jong Il’s personal guard was “harder than passing through the eye of a needle,” a fact borne out by the news that just eleven among all the new conscripts in Yangkang Province, and just one in North Hamkyung Province, were successful.

Based on the somewhat unclear phrase, “newly organized escort unit”, it appears likely that the new unit is intended to be for the protection of the successor, Kim Jong Eun. History also gives credence to this view; Kim Jong Il’s first personal guard unit was chosen back in 1977 while his succession was still in the relatively early stages, and was thereafter merged with Kim Il Sung’s own unit into Escort Command.

9 North Koreans Drift to Japan

By Kim Tae Hong

The Japanese government is investigating the option of transferring 9 North Koreans picked up yesterday off the country’s west coast to South Korea.

According to reports, the 9 individuals were picked up from a fishing boat drifting in the sea off Ishikawa Prefecture on the west coast of the main Japanese island of Honshu.

The 9 have apparently been designated as defectors in accordance with their wishes, and the Japanese government has embarked on an investigation into complying with their expressed desire to be sent on to South Korea.

Speaking about the issue yesterday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told reporters, “We will respond properly with reference to past examples.”

Although cases such as this are rare thanks to the distances involved, in June, 2007 Japan did transfer to South Korea a family of 4 castaway defectors picked up near the port city of Fukaura, further north in Aomori Prefecture. Therefore, if investigation of the 9 reveals nothing untoward, it is likely that they will arrive in South Korea in the near future.