If this report is verified, it might mean China’s North Korean refugee problem might be coming to an end:
It has been learned that North Korea is building a 400 km wooden fence from Shinuiju, North Pyongan Province to Onsong, North Hamgyong Province in order to put a stop to the recent exodus of defectors from the country.
In a telephone conversation with this reporter, an officer in a North Korean border guard unit said, “In accordance with an order from the National Defense Commission calling for us to completely seal the border, border guard units and all the citizens of the border regions were mobilized and have been building a 2 meter high wooden fence since last month.” Construction is first being done in those hard-to-patrol areas used by defectors to escape; wide-open, easily patrolled areas are being saved for later, he said.
The officer added, “The North Korea-China border is more that 1,000 li (about 400 km) long, and the reality is that it’s impossible to block all of it. I can’t understand who would present such an absurd idea.”
This report, if true, would confirm what we already know — that North Korea is led by a bunch of real bastards. However, this report does beg some questions. First of all, what the fuck is a serving North Korean officer doing talking with a reporter from the Chosun Ilbo, let alone dissing Kim Jong-il to said South Korean daily? Coincidentally, the reporter in question, Gang Cheol-hwan, cited whom I presume to be the same officer in the North Korean border guards in an earlier report concerning North Korean suspicions that the Ryongchon explosion was an assassination attempt. Now, the fact that Gang has cited this guy twice in the same week would suggest that the Chosun reporter has indeed got himself a source within the North Korean military. I could well see a serving North Korean officer badmouthing KJI to his close friends. What I have difficulty picturing, however, is a serving North Korean officer badmouthing KJI to the voice of South Korean conservatism. I’m not saying the Chosun’s report isn’t true. I’m just flabbergasted that I read it.
In addition to the fence, the North Korean are also setting up booby-traps along the Yalu and Tumen rivers:
Side by side with building the wooden fence, North Korea is also preparing traps at strategic spots along Yalu and Tumen rivers that are frequented by people.
A defector who recently crossed the border said, “The traps set up by the border guards are about 3 to 5 meters deep and have sharp metal or wood spikes at the bottom so people are killed or seriously injured when they fall into them.”
These traps, which were installed outside political prison camps to stop inmates from escaping, have now made an appearance along the national border.
Just lovely. Korea used to have a 1,000 li fortress that stretched across much of the Sino-Korean border in ancient times. The difference, of course, was that fortress was designed to keep people out, not in.
6 Comments
Now Marmot, in your efforts to be Korean, you must adopt the Uri Party Line in regards to the Dear Leader and his loyal subjects. The “refugee” issue does not exist, the “fence” is in fact yet another way of keeping the Yankee Imerialist Scum, which is increasingly infiltrating China, out of Korea’s northern border.
You should know better than to say slanderous things about the Dear Leader, who since 2000 has been a fraternal and peerless brother of all Koreans.
Oh, and all the people who arranged the illegal 2000 love in were just let out of jail on a complete amnesty. Funny you didn’t mention that.
Gang Cheolhwan / Kang Cholhwan is the North Korean defector who wrote “Aquariums of Pyongyang.” So it is conceivable that he would have such contacts, having been a former DPRK citizen. However, I highly doubted his report of Ryongchon being an assassination attempt (because if it was, it was executed so very poorly, and the alleged cell phone ban can also be explained by the regime’s desire to keep information under control until it communicated its own version of events). It’s possible that Kang’s DPRK sources are just playing him because they know who he is. Or that his articles reflect gossip in the Seoul defector community. Now I’m not saying you can’t trust defectors, but until there is further confirmation of both stories I’ll remain skeptical.
One would be hard pressed to explain the alleged cell phone ban as an attempt by the regime to keep information about Ryongchon under control, since the explosion was on April 22, and the cell phone bans apparently didn’t start until May 19th, almost a month later. By this time the NoKo govt already had their story out there, and outsiders had already visited the site.
According to the reporter he had two independent accounts of a ‘wooden wall’ (sounds better than ‘fence’) is being built: the NoKo border guard, and the Korean-Chinese (ChiKo? KoChi?) trader. The defector mentioned in the story spoke only about pit traps, not a wall or fence.
Wow, all this story is missing is some asinine Jeong Se-hyun comment. Perhaps something on how romantic it is that North Korea is resurrecting ancient Korean tradition.
Were there two Libians (not sure) killed in the blast? This may lead to high explosive being mishandelled by business partners or the Norks, and not an assassination attempt. Your thoughts?
Kang Chol Hwan is about as knowledgeable as people get on North Korea. As Aaron pointed out, he is a North Korean defector. He spent ten years of his life (from age 9 to 19) in the Yodok political prisoners camp (the village for ‘redeemables’ - not the ‘absolute control area’) and he is also one of the people behind the nkgulag.org organization. He has also been the Chosun Ilbo’s North Korea editor for years now..
By all accounts he’s a very smart guy.
PING:
TITLE: The Wooden Curtain
BLOG NAME: The Gweilo Diaries
The Chosun Ilbo reports that the deranged Kim regime is erecting a 400 km wooden fence the length of the North Korea/China border in order to prevent refugees and defectors from leaving the country. In a telephone conversation with this…
PING:
TITLE: The Wooden Curtain
BLOG NAME: The Gweilo Diaries
The Chosun Ilbo reports that the deranged Kim regime is erecting a 400 km wooden fence the length of the North Korea/China border in order to prevent refugees and defectors from leaving the country. In a telephone conversation with this…
PING:
TITLE: Eyes on Korea: 2004-06-11
BLOG NAME: Winds of Change.NET
South Korea-U.S. alliance in turmoil, China thows down the gauntlet, Pyongyang peddling uranium, John Kerry on North Korea, intra-Korean military talks, tiger traps, dumplings you wouldn’t want to eat and much, much more!
PING:
TITLE: Eyes on Korea: 2004-06-11
BLOG NAME: Winds of Change.NET
South Korea-U.S. alliance in turmoil, China thows down the gauntlet, Pyongyang peddling uranium, John Kerry on North Korea, intra-Korean military talks, tiger traps, dumplings you wouldn’t want to eat and much, much more!