＜Inside N. Korea＞ “City of Fear”: State Security Command Deployed from Capital as Economic Deterioration Gives Rise to Drug Trafficking, Prostitution, and Organized Crime

2020.09.03

◆ Residents subjected to ruthless investigations

The heavy-handedness of the investigative teams, based out of the Social Security Command, is terrorizing Hoeryong residents. This is because large numbers of arrests are being made through sting operations and home searches without warrants.

The aforementioned reporting A partner explained, “When a suspect is detained, their relatives are also arrested and interrogated. In mid-August, when an acquaintance of mine was investigated for drugs, even their middle school student child was detained. Since bribery won’t work, they say everybody simply confesses- ranging from crimes committed way in the past to even executive corruption.”

The Kim Jong-un regime declared a state of emergency and issued a special alert in late July to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Though the economy is continuing to deteriorate, the regime is focused on preventing the collapse of social order. As such, it is certainly possible that the Social Security Ministry Command will be deployed to other cities in the future as well.

※ ASIAPRESS contacts its reporting partners in North Korea through smuggled Chinese mobile phones.