{"id":4446,"date":"2020-01-19T06:00:49","date_gmt":"2020-01-18T21:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.01.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/?p=4446"},"modified":"2020-01-23T10:55:51","modified_gmt":"2020-01-23T01:55:51","slug":"censors-overseas-laborers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2020\/01\/politics\/censors-overseas-laborers\/","title":{"rendered":"\uff1cInside N. Korea\uff1e \u201cDon\u2019t Tell Anyone...\u201d: Censors Scramble as Overseas Laborers Return Home with Whispers of the Outside World"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In North Korea, where control is extremely tight, the markets have become a center for information exchange. Photographed are women selling various Chinese-made goods at the market. The photograph was taken by ASIAPRESS in Ryanggang Province in June, 2016<\/p><\/div>\n

According to multiple reporting partners living in the northern part of North Korea, overseas laborers have been returning to their homes in the region since the end of last year.<\/p>\n

Under the UN Security Council\u2019s sanctions, all laborers dispatched overseas had to return to North Korea by December 22.<\/p>\n

The authorities are reportedly conducting an inspection of workers upon their return to Korea, even holding them temporarily in solitary confinement. There, it is said that the authorities make laborers promise to not reveal anything about what they saw or heard while abroad.<\/p>\n

In the words of a reporting partner, \u201cThey tell those who have come back, \u2018So that it doesn\u2019t filter into our country, don\u2019t tell anyone how capitalist society works or what is going on in the outside world. Don\u2019t talk about what you have seen, heard, or experienced.\u2019 The laborers are afraid of punishment so they seldom share any stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the authorities cannot stop people from speaking altogether. As returning laborers quietly share details of their foreign experiences to family members and close friends, information spreads through the markets.
\nNext page :The reporting partner continued\u2026<\/strong>
\nThe reporting partner continued, \u201cThere are many people who envy those abroad who can earn as much money as others do for the same work. They envy the fact that those abroad are not seen worrying about food and that they can live a good life if they try hard. Stories about life in the outside world are spreading so there are now many who are jealous of life outside North Korea.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is said that most of the laborers who have returned home came back from China and Russia. (Kang Ji-won)<\/p>\n

\u203b ASIAPRESS contacts reporting partners in North Korea through smuggled Chinese mobile phones.<\/p>\n

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