{"id":2202,"date":"2016-03-31T17:24:29","date_gmt":"2016-03-31T08:24:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.01.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang-2\/2016\/03\/report\/20160331_party-congress-oldman-out\/"},"modified":"2018-08-24T18:21:32","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T09:21:32","slug":"20160331_party-congress-oldman-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2016\/03\/news\/20160331_party-congress-oldman-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Elderly party members excluded from DPRK Party Conference\u2026 Increased surveillance of the population"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(Inside

(Inside picture) Veterans of the Korean War take pictures in front of the portraits of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. Taken by team Mindulle in August 2013 (ASIA PRESS)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

A reporting partner of ASIA PRESS reported that the first recommendations for the participants for May\u2019s Party Conference ended on March 24 and there was an age limit to participants. (Kang Ji-won, defector reporter)<\/p>\n

During a phone conversation on March 25, he reported that the recommendation procedure ended on March 24 and the authorities have banned party members from moving from March 20. He added:<\/p>\n

\u201cEach organization was permitted to recommend 1-2 members while three members were recommended from larger organizations. Elderly members over sixty years old who are receiving a retirement allowance, are excluded for the recommendation. Selected people are expected to travel Pyongyang in early April.<\/p>\n

According to his report, selected members who demonstrate enthusiasm and loyalty are supposed to pass another recommendation procedure in Pyongyang. The final nominees will be representatives for the Party Conference. Seven members are selected as representatives in the reporting partner\u2019s town.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Two

Two young women who were caught by the inspection unit checking clothes and public morals in Haeju City, North Hwanghae Province. Taken by Shim Eui-cheon on October 2008. (ASIAPRESS)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

As the Party Conference approaches state control over the population also appears to be increasing.<\/p>\n

ASIA PRESS\u2019s reporting partner said that a surveillance group monitoring anti-socialist activities, formed March 23, is targeting; young women doing business in market place; people with unusual hairstyles; and people wearing jeans. The surveillance group sends apprehended individuals labor sites.<\/p>\n

\"A

A young man in an Mickey Mouse T-shirt walking through a market. He risks being detained by the anti-socialist activities inspection unit. Taken by team Mindulle at a market place of Hyesan City, Ryanggang Province on August 2013. (ASIAPRESS)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the last ten years, as outside information has crept into North Korea, capitalist culture has become popular among North Korean youth. South Korean soap operas have played a significant part in these social changes. North Korean authorities regard blue jeans as a symbol of capitalism and an eyesore to be stamped out.<\/p>\n

During another telephone conversation with an ASIAPRESS in-country reporting partner on 28 March, the reporter told us that a national security agent (secret police) he is acquainted with alerted him that, \u201cuntil the Party Conference, extra control will be enforced. The officers in charge of blocking cellular communication with people outside North Korea arrived from Pyongyang to jam signals near Chinese border.\u201d<\/p>\n

* The North Korean Youth Union\u2019s formal title \u2018the youth union of Kim Il-sung socialism\u2019 is an umbrella unit of the DPRK Worker\u2019s Party. It is a non-party member\u2019s organization accepting members between the ages of 4th<\/sup> grade Middle school (15 years old) to 30years old. The anti-socialist activities inspection group checks for the corruption of public morals. They target supposed capitalist tendencies such as length of skirts, the shape of shoes, T-shirts, hairstyles, and clothes. It is prohibited for unmarried women to do business in market places.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Membership

Membership Certificate for the DPRK Worker\u2019s Party taken by ASIA PRESS<\/p><\/div>\n

After the last Party conference was held 36 years ago, the North Korean government prepares the conference over the course of two selection processes; it is surprising to exclude elderly members over 60 from such an important Party event. Kim Jong-il, the present leader Kim Jong-un\u2019s father, emphasized respect for elderly members saying, \u201cRespecting elderly party members is a lofty moral obligation of the revolutionaries.\u201d If it is true that members over sixty are excluded from the conference, it shows that Kim Jong-un is indeed cut from a different cloth from his father. It would not be unexpected to see a generational shake up in the Party in the future.<\/p>\n

\"Rimjingang_banner001\"<\/a>*\u00a0Editor\u2019s notes on North Korean reporters<\/a>
<\/a>ALL REPORTS >>><\/a> <\/strong><\/span>
ARCHIVE(pdf) >><\/a><\/span>
DPRK MAP >><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  A reporting partner of ASIA PRESS reported that the first recommendations for the participants for May\u2019s Party Co\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[7,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2202"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}