North Korea’s security agency arrests family of three trying to defect on Kim Il Sung’s birthday
North Korea’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) arrested a family of three trying to defect over the Sino-North Korean border on Kim Il Sung’s birthday (Apr. 15), Daily NK has learned.
“In mid-April, a 53-year-old man surnamed Kim, his 49-year-old wife, surnamed Choi, and their 22-year-old daughter attempted to cross the [Tumen] River, but officials from the Musan County MSS arrested them,” a North Hamgyong Province-based source told Daily NK yesterday. “During their interrogation, they confessed that they had intended to go to South Korea.”
According to the source, the family resided in the Pohang District of Chongjin, North Hamgyong Province. They had travelled to Musan County to attempt a crossing of the Tumen River into China on Kim Il Sung’s birthday.
North Korean factories, businesses, and inminban (people’s units) conduct “special security” during national holidays such as Kim Il Sung’s birthday. The authorities frequently hand down orders calling for areas on the Sino-North Korean border to maintain a stronger security posture than inland areas.
In reality, MSS officials and members of the border patrol have difficulties maintaining these “special” levels of security demanded by the authorities because of the country’s chronic economic difficulties. ......
[Source: Daily NK]
