{"id":2718,"date":"2016-09-09T11:23:33","date_gmt":"2016-09-09T02:23:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.01.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang-2\/2016\/09\/report\/nk-korea-missing-person-investigation\/"},"modified":"2021-07-12T14:55:58","modified_gmt":"2021-07-12T05:55:58","slug":"nk-korea-missing-person-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2016\/09\/military\/nk-korea-missing-person-investigation\/","title":{"rendered":"\uff1cInside N.Korea\uff1e Hunt for defectors resumed"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A policeman on patrol through a village. Taken by Kim Dong-cheol at South Pyongan Province on June 2010. (ASIA PRESS)<\/p><\/div>\n

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2016\/Sept<\/span><\/span>\/9<\/em><\/p>\n

The State Security Department of North Korea recently resumed their investigation into families with missing persons. An ASIAPRESS reporting partner, living near the Sino-North Korean border in North Hamkyung Province, reported on the people summoned for interrogation.<\/p>\n

The partner explained that the State Security Department had resumed such investigations from August 20: An investigation team, comprised of State Security Department agents, a People\u2019s Security police officer, and a neighborhood watch leader, had either visited the families of missing persons or summoned the family to the department offices.<\/p>\n

Through questioning, the State Security Department is gathering information on the date a family member went missing, why the family member is thought to be missing, and the person\u2019s suspected whereabouts.<\/p>\n

\u201cTargeted families usually assume that the authorities are looking to classify the missing as individuals \u2018gone to South Korea,\u2019 or \u2018gone to China\u2019. Authorities are doing this by checking the criminal record (smuggling with Chinese, contacting Chinese-Korean, and any record of earning through smuggling) of missing persons,\u201d explained the reporting partner.<\/p>\n

He confirmed that investigations are continuing in many neighborhood watch groups in his county. He wasn\u2019t, however, certain on whether or not the investigation is underway at the state level.
\nRelated article : \uff1cPhoto Report on N.Korea\uff1e N.Korean People\u2019s Army Facing State of Starvation<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The State Security Department and the People\u2019s Securities Department have carried out investigations into border area missing persons since the famine of the 1990s. On occasion, if a missing person is found to have fled to the South, they expel the family of the defector inland, as a means of preventing their subsequent escape.<\/p>\n

Accordingly, it is common for the family of the missing to claim ignorance as to the whereabouts of an absent member, or to offer a bribe to state security agents to avoid punishment.<\/p>\n

In some cases, a family member might try to pass him or herself off as the missing person. This is done in an effort not to be labelled as \u201cfamilies of escapees to the South\u201d.<\/p>\n

Nest page...<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The ASIAPRESS reporting partner said that one family interrogated by the State Security Department had offered up a false confession that started:<\/p>\n

Our missing daughter said several times that she would drown herself. She told us that she couldn\u2019t hold on to life anymore. Then she suddenly disappeared. We don\u2019t know where she is.<\/p>\n

Investigation into missing person\u2019s whereabouts aims to beef up surveillance of the border regions as part of a broader effort to hinder any further defections.<\/p>\n

But the resumption of these investigations is likely to negatively influence public opinion on the government.
\nRelated article : DPRK high-ranking state officials ordered to attend seminar against escaping the country: frequent escapes concern Kim regime<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

A man who escaped the North in 2011 and resettled in South Korea explained, \u201cThe state knows that many residents near the Sino-North Korean border have fled. [With renewed investigations] border town residents are likely to become quite frustrated and there\u2019s a possibility of unrest toward the regime if the authorities try to force matters with the locals..<\/p>\n

\u203b ASIAPRESS uses China-based phones to contact ASIAPRESS reporting partners inside North Korea.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"rimjingang_banner001\"<\/a>* Editor\u2019s notes on North Korean reporters<\/a><\/a> <\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\nARCHIVE(pdf) >><\/a><\/span>
\n DPRK MAP >><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  2016\/Sept\/9 The State Security Department of North Korea recently resumed their investigation into families with \u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3587,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[5,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2718"}],"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=2718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}