North Korean security authorities have stepped up to emphasize their role by providing supplies to security team members (informants) as a measure to strengthen surveillance of North Korean defector families. This is interpreted as an intention to increase the level of crackdown on North Korean defector families as they are seen as a medium for the inflow and spread of external information within North Korea.
According to Daily NK’s Yanggang Province source on the 19th, the Ryanggang Province Security Bureau gave instructions to the Hyesan City Security Department, a border area, at the end of last month to strengthen surveillance of North Korean defector families and make efforts to identify subversive elements.
Accordingly, the city safety department summoned local safety officers the day after the order was issued and held a meeting emphasizing the need to increase the role of informants.
At the meeting at the time, executives from the city’s safety department reportedly specifically ordered strengthened surveillance of North Korean defector families. In relation to this, he requested that informants be obligated to keep a close eye on visits by suspicious outsiders and immediately report any signs of strangeness, even if they are minor.
Currently, it is known that North Korean security authorities are pointing to North Korean defector families as a major factor in the inflow and dissemination of external information.
The source said, “As North Korean defectors send money to their families or relatives here (North Korea), they naturally spread words and various information about South Korea. In this situation, residents, especially young people, “I sometimes envy the families of North Korean defectors who hear news directly from them, and sometimes have fantasies about them,” he said.
Accordingly, the city’s Ministry of Safety is requesting to strengthen surveillance of North Korean defector families, and in particular, it is seeking to increase the role of Inminban informants who monitor residents’ every move and report to security officers in charge, the source said.
In fact, it is said that the city’s safety department secretly delivered goods worth 50,000 won, including oil, rice, and shampoo, to all informants through local security officers, and announced that it would also give larger rewards if performance increases in the future.
This means that exemplary informants who actively participate in monitoring, reporting, and reporting activities were encouraged by saying that they would receive separate commendations and prize money.
A source said, “Until now, safety team members have shown a tendency to perform their activities in a perfunctory manner when the safety officers in charge tell them to show performance,” adding, “Not only are there no material compensation, but residents are also concerned about how many people around them are living without committing illegal acts. “One of the reasons is that it is prevalent in the stomach,” he said.
In the past, informants may have been active in monitoring residents due to their extraordinary loyalty and patriotism, but the current informants are busy making a living and are quick to calculate, so they are not willing to take on tiring work without compensation.
At the same time, he said, “The Ministry of Safety is not unaware of this attitude of the security team members, but their role in monitoring the residents is large, so it cannot be ignored.” He added, “So this delivery of supplies to the rear is a good thing for both the informant and the security officer in charge.” .
The informants are motivated by a certain amount of compensation, and the safety agents who cannot always control all affairs within the People’s Unit can see each and every trend through the informants, thus killing two birds with one stone.
The source said, “Some of the security team members who actually received the supplies said, ‘Let’s pretend to work even though we are doing back-end work.’” “However, since there is no guarantee that the material compensation will continue, the security officers in charge are responsible for monitoring the families of North Korean defectors and hunting down subversive elements.” He said, “We are busy preparing year-end performance summaries through the safety team members by encouraging them by saying that if they do well, they will receive greater rewards.”
Source: www.dailynk.com
