＜Interview with a North Korean Woman＞"It's Annoying and Unbearable"　Surveillance and Control Intensified Through Inminban... Registration Required Even for Going Out and Returning Home

North Korea has a resident control organization called the ‘Inminban’. As the lowest-level administrative organization, each district is composed of 20-50 households and is responsible for organizing mobilizations for cleaning, road repairs, and compost making, conveying central government policies and directives through the neighborhood office, and monitoring and surveilling the detailed movements of every resident. Recently, resident control through the Inminban has reportedly become stricter than before. A reporting partner living in Ryanggang Province spoke about this "unbearableness." (ISHIMARU Jiro / KANG Ji-won)

◆Inspections at Home Every Two Days

―― We’ve heard that control through the Inminban has been strengthened.

Recently, the number of households managed by the Inminban has been reduced from the previous 20-50 households to 20 households. This is to make control easier. Inminban leaders come into homes every two days under various pretexts. They frequently come for broadcast inspections, electricity inspections, water supply surveys, flu checks, vaccinations, hygiene inspections, and so on. Each resident's movements are grasped as clearly as looking at the palm of your hand.

If there's anything that stands out, someone from the Security Bureau (police) comes, saying, "We received a report, so we're investigating." Then the Inminban leader demands a bribe, saying they'll block the investigation.

※ Broadcast inspection: Every North Korean household has a wired propaganda broadcast called "Third Broadcast" installed. This is an inspection to check whether it has been cut or modified.
※ Electricity inspection: An inspection to check whether electrical appliances are being used beyond regulations for power conservation.

◆Checkpoints Monitor Going Out and Coming Home

―― We’ve heard people's comings and goings are also monitored.

At the entrance to each Inminban, there's a checkpoint called a "security post," and everyone who enters or exits must identify themselves and write their name. Residents must write their names both when going out for work and when returning home. If you're questioned and don't answer, it becomes a problem.

The "security posts" are staffed by residents 24 hours a day in three shifts. While they strictly verify Inminban entry and exit, if a crime or accident occurs anyway, all Inminban members must take responsibility.

―― What has become particularly strict recently?

Control of food and goods. When a report comes in that an individual has purchased food or a large quantity of goods, they're investigated. The other day in our Inminban, someone who bought 30kg of rice from a company and tried to take it home was caught at the "security post," and the Security Bureau investigated the source of that rice. It's annoying and suffocating. It's unbearable.

◆Inminban Begin Independent Money-Making

Recently, each Inminban has reportedly begun independent profit-making activities. This is unprecedented.

―― Why are the Inminban making money?

The neighborhood office couldn't pay the November allowance to the Inminban leader, so the principle became that Inminban should cover operating expenses independently as much as possible, and they started making money. Each Inminban leader tries to do anything profitable to secure their own income.

―― How do they make money?

The Inminban started operating small shops. They sell beverages, snacks, tofu, coal, factory products, and so on. You're criticized if you buy from another Inminban shop. It's annoying to death.

◆It's Unbearable

―― You must dislike the intensifying control.

I hate it. People are so fed up with the crackdowns that those who have money sometimes move from apartments to ground-level houses (single-story homes).

※ In apartments, Inminban are often organized on each floor.

Additionally, ASIAPRESS has not grasped detailed information about Inminban conditions in regions other than Ryanggang Province.

※ ASIAPRESS communicates with its reporting partners through Chinese cell phones smuggled into North Korea.