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Date : June 29, 2016
Cadres trade on heightened surveillance
   http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk01500&num=13956 [997]
In the midst of recent reports that Kim Jong Un has ordered users of Chinese-made mobile phones to be labeled as traitors and punished accordingly, the North Korean authorities have been stepping up public crackdowns. However, while the state is increasing its surveillance of the population in light of the "200-Day Battle," Party cadres are using the opportunity to solicit bribes, Daily NK has learned. 

With the start of the 200-Day Battle, agents from both the Ministry of Peoples Security and the State Security Department are restricting the movements of itinerant merchants during the day and cracking down on mobile phone usage during the night, a source from North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK in a telephone conversation. But these agents are openly requesting bribes in exchange for turning a blind eye to whatever illicit activities they discover. 

The agents are carefully analyzing patterns of illegal activity during these crackdown periods because its a good way for them to make money for themselves, the source explained. People who have no connections, no money, and no power end up being pawns for these agents to fill their own pockets. 

The abuse of power by these agents is said to flow from higher ranking cadres. Although they quote official orders to "completely uproot espionage," such slogans are immediately followed by indirect requests for bribes via suggestions of "a birthday or special anniversary" coming up. 

[Source: Daily NK]

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