State Security Ministry dispatches inspection teams to border areas during Kim’s China visit to prevent internal unrest
Kim Jong-un arrives in Beijing. (Image: Pang Xinglei/AP)
As North Korean leader Kim Jong-un embarked on a trip to China on September 2 to attend the military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the Chinese victory in World War II, the State Security Ministry reportedly dispatched inspection teams to border areas of North Hamgyong and Ryanggang Provinces to conduct intensive inspections.
The move is interpreted as an attempt to minimize internal unrest and block external contact in order to maintain regime stability during Kim’s visit.
According to a North Korean source on September 4, the State Security Ministry has been carrying out inspections of border regions since August 23. While officially framed as inspections of security units accused of shielding or neglecting information leakers, the true purpose, the source explained, is to prevent subversive activities by anti-regime forces during Kim’s visit to China.
“The current inspections are producing a number of absurd situations,” the source said. “The inspection teams are working with the goal of heightening a sense of tension, but lower-level security officers, fearful of the inspections, are putting down the names of people from other districts to protect their own informants. Among informants who use Chinese cell phones, there is widespread chaos as they denounce one another.”
Han was born in 1989 in Taehongdan county, Ryanggang province, North Korea. She graduated from Hyesan Teacher's College in 2012, after which she worked as an elementary school teacher. She defected to South Korea in 2016 and works as a reporter at NK Times in Seoul.
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