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Thread: North Korea

  1. #51
    Moderator Ryan's Avatar
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    NK fisherman captain executed for listening to US radio

    The North Korean government goes above and beyond to stop access of its population to outside information. With strict punishments in place, not all however, are deterred from tuning in to a little information.

    Reported by RFA, an American agency for global media, a fishing boat captain was executed for secretly tuning in to their radio channel and other forbidden media while at sea.

    The fishing boat captain has had a habit of tuning in to overseas broadcasts ever since his military days and confessed to having listened to US government-funded media for the last 15 years.

    His crewmen later reported the captain as they arrived at his base in Chongjin.

    According to an official statement from the North Hamgyong province, “In mid-October, a captain of a fishing boat from Chongjin was executed by firing squad, on charges of listening to Radio Free Asia regularly over a long period of time.”

    “We know that the captain’s surname was Choi and he was in his 40's. He was working out of a fishery base affiliated with the Central Party’s Bureau 39.”

    “Choi was the owner of a fleet of over 50 ships. During an investigation by the provincial security department, Captain Choi confessed to listening to RFA broadcasts since the age of 24, when he was serving in the military as a radio operator.”

    It is important to note that Bureau 39 refers to the secret organisation tasked to acquire hard currency and maintain a slush fund for North Korean President Kim Jong Un.

    Captain Choi certainly was hard done not by just tuning-in to some music, but also the fact that his own crewmen snitched on him.
    "How do you get drunk on death row?" - Werner Herzog

    "When we get fruit, we get the juice and water. I ferment for a week! It tastes like chalk, it's nasty" - Blaine Keith Milam #999558 Texas Death Row

  2. #52
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Disinformation from government organizations shouldn't' be posted here. This story is clearly made up.
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

  3. #53
    Senior Member Frequent Poster schmutz's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike View Post
    Disinformation from government organizations shouldn't' be posted here. This story is clearly made up.
    Yes, the North Koreans would like you to think there are people there with private property. Clearly an act of disinformation.

  4. #54
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    North Korea: 4 Publicly Executed In Pyongyang On Charges Of Distributing ‘Illegal Video Materials’

    Daily NK

    4 North Koreans were publicly executed in Pyongyang recently on charges of distributing “illegal video materials,” Daily NK has learned.

    A source in the country told Daily NK on 11 March 2021 that the execution took place on 2 March at the Daewon-ri Firing Range in Pyongyang’s Sadong District. The 4 people, including three men and one woman, were executed by firing squad in front of local city residents and the heads of all Pyongyang’s inminban (neighborhood watch-like organizations).

    All those executed were residents of Hadang-dong, an area of Pyongyang’s Hyongjae District. Led by a man in his early 50s along with his wife, who was in her late 40s, the group was accused of placing South Korean movies, entertainment and music programs on SD cards and distributing them throughout the country.

    There are a large number of people in Hadang-dong who make counterfeit cigarettes called gadaegidambae. The couple had long worked as counterfeit cigarette-makers who bought cigarette components from a nearby cigarette factory through “behind-the-scenes” deals and imported cigarette paper from across the Sino-North Korean border.

    The counterfeit cigarettes are similar to genuine articles in terms of how they look and packaged; however, they cost half as much, which means there is demand for them in areas outside of the capital city.

    From August of last year, the couple gained the attention of people in their district when they added another story to their house and paid the people living next to them to move away so they could take over their house. The couple also created a mini-factory replete with production equipment near their house that employed 30 to 40 people.

    The couple’s neighbors thought it was strange that they had suddenly become so financially well off given that it is generally hard to make that much money selling counterfeit cigarettes.

    Another man and wife team who operated a vehicle that shipped the counterfeit cigarettes to places throughout the country also thought the couple’s new developments were strange. They found it particularly strange that the couple added an extra box to the shipments.

    In January, the man and wife team switched out one of the extra boxes and took a look inside. They found that the box was full of SD cards below two boxes of cigarettes. After confirming that the SD cards were full of various South Korean video content, they reported the couple to the Ministry of State Security.

    “After the anti-reactionary thought law was created, [the authorities] established ‘anti-socialist, non-socialist elimination combined command centers,’ and from early February these command centers have been operating in each province, directly-administered city, and special city in the country,” the source said. “The couple’s case was sent from the Ministry of State Security to the Pyongyang command center, and later two other workers in their 30s who had been paid by the couple to copy the SD cards were arrested.”

    The authorities reportedly found large amounts of Chinese-made SD cards at the couple’s house. The Pyongyang command center demanded the couple tell them who had given them the SD cards; however, the couple claimed that since August of last year they had just received boxes with several USBs in them on two occasions while importing cigarette paper over the border and they had no idea who placed them in the boxes.

    The couple admitted that there were videos they had never seen before in the USBs and had believed that selling the videos would make them some money. They later placed the videos on SD cards and sold them at the Hadong Market and found that the videos were popular. They then moved to sell the videos throughout the country.

    “The case was reported to Kim Jong Un and they were ordered to be executed as traitors to the nation,” the source said. “Preliminary examinations usually take around 6 months, but the couple was publicly executed quickly to make them an example.”

    Preliminary examinations include the entire interrogation process prior to suspects being indicted.

    Article 27 of the anti-reactionary thought law says that anyone caught importing or distributing South Korean movies, music or published works face a lifetime of forced labor or execution, according to materials obtained by Daily NK.

    The teenage children of the couple have been sent to South Pyongan Province’s Bukchang 18 concentration camp, which is run by the Ministry of Social Security. The immediate family members of the other executed people who had been living in Pyongyang have all been exiled to other parts of the country.

    http://www.handsoffcain.info/notizia...rials-60325157

  5. #55
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    Spy who dared to Google Kim Jong-un faces death by firing squad in North Korea

    A North Korean spy has been sentenced to death for Googling Kim Jong-un.

    The unidentified agent faces death by firing squad for daring to read about the dictator from within Bureau 10, the secretive agency monitoring internal and external communications in the repressive state.

    Sources in Pyongyang told South Korean newspaper Daily NK that the individual was among a number of intelligence officials betrayed to the Ministry of State Security by a colleague. The other officers have reportedly been dismissed from their posts.

    Internet access is strictly controlled in the ‘hermit kingdom’ of North Korea, so-called for its isolation from the rest of the world and the quasi-religious cult of personality surrounding the nation’s leader, with even top-level intelligence figures unable to get online without prior approval.

    The source told Daily NK: ‘Bureau 10 departments are given access to the internet, which had allowed agents to turn off their search word recording devices and search the web as much as they like without issue.

    ‘But after a new bureau chief took over, even these previously routine issues have turned into major incidents.’

    Greg Scarlatoiu, director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, said the purge speaks to how the regime is increasingly struggling to maintain its iron grip on the flow of information into the country.

    Mr Scarlatoiu said: ‘Even the most trusted agents of the Kim regime are now attempting to access information from the outside world.

    ‘The Kim family regime has stayed in power through overwhelming coercion, punishment, surveillance and information control.’

    He added: ‘The regime continues to see the very limited information entering the country from the outside world as a grave threat to its grip on power.

    ‘Despite the regime’s efforts, the North Korean information firewall is slowly, but surely and steadily, crumbling.’

    The intelligence officials caught up in the recent purge of Bureau 10 are all understood to have been young, having joined the agency not long after graduating last year.

    They were mostly of mid-to-high rank at the organisation, charged with developing programmes for controlling the country’s information firewall, according to Daily NK.

    https://metro.co.uk/2023/03/13/north...g-un-18431639/
    "How do you get drunk on death row?" - Werner Herzog

    "When we get fruit, we get the juice and water. I ferment for a week! It tastes like chalk, it's nasty" - Blaine Keith Milam #999558 Texas Death Row

  6. #56
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    North Korea ramps up public executions

    By Kim Hyun-bin
    North Korea is witnessing an escalation in terror, as the totalitarian state has increasingly relied on public executions, a move by its dictator Kim Jong-un to strengthen his grip over national governance.

    According to reports citing an informed source with insights into North Korean internal affairs, the number of public executions has been massively increased. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, North Korea saw an average of about 10 public executions annually, but over the past year, this number has surged to an estimated 100 or more.

    During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, North Korea took measures to reduce public executions significantly in a bid to prevent the spread of infections. However, with the pandemic subsiding and human interactions increasing, these gruesome acts have resurged.

    "North Korea public executions occur relatively frequently," Cheong Seong-chang, director of the Department of Reunification Strategy Studies at the Sejong Institute, said.

    "These executions cover a wide range of cases, including heinous crimes, drug smuggling, and, in rare instances, individuals caught producing and selling prohibited content, including South Korean dramas."

    The COVID-19 pandemic brought about strict border controls in North Korea, presenting significant obstacles to smuggling and illicit activities.

    However, recent developments have seen North Korea ease its COVID-19 restrictions, resulting in the return of individuals from abroad. This has triggered a notable increase in smuggling activities.

    In August, North Korea decided to reopen its border after more than three years of stringent virus curbs, primarily due to economic challenges stemming from its border closure. This decision has led to the return of more North Korean diplomats, laborers and students who were living abroad.

    Cheong underscored that North Korea historically has maintained control over its citizens through fear-inducing public executions and noted that the country is increasingly relying on public executions as a means of control.

    One particularly chilling incident occurred at the Hyesan Airfield near the Chinese border in Ryanggang Province last month, where a man was executed in front of local villagers on charges of smuggling medical supplies considered contraband.

    In August, the same airfield witnessed the execution of seven men and two women, with approximately 20,000 residents reportedly gathering to witness the gruesome event. They were accused of illegally purchasing about 2,000 government-owned cattle between 2017 and this year for resale.

    Notably, there have been instances of teenagers facing public execution, particularly for distributing South Korean dramas, music or other content banned under North Korea's law that was enacted in December 2020.

    North Korean authorities have even publically executed pregnant women.

    There are also reports of unauthorized human experiments from defectors and former prison guards.

    The 2023 North Korean Human Rights Report, based on the testimonies of 508 North Korean defectors from 2017 to 2022 and published by the Ministry of Unification, paints a grim picture of severe human rights violations in North Korea and the harsh conditions experienced by its residents.

    The report highlights an ongoing pattern of summary executions without due judicial process in North Korean border regions, serving the dual purpose of instilling fear among North Korean citizens and consolidating the regime's control.

    Disturbingly, some North Korean residents who have been forced to witness these executions have reportedly suffered from fainting, insomnia and post-traumatic stress disorder. This stark escalation in fear tactics and public executions raises international concerns about the ongoing human rights crisis in North Korea.

    Experts suggest that the increase in executions could be attributed to the deteriorating economy, necessitating stringent measures to maintain control over the population.

    Yang Moo-jin, president at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies, emphasized, "North Korea's unstable economy, international sanctions and the impact of natural disasters have likely contributed."

    There is growing concern among experts that additional executions may be imminent, following the recent actions of Chinese authorities in forcibly returning more than 500 North Korean escapees.

    The majority of these individuals, predominantly women, now confront a grave risk of being incarcerated in forced labor facilities, where they could be subjected to torture, sexual violence, enforced disappearance and the possibility of being executed.

    Stephen Kim, an underground missionary from South Korea known for his extensive networks within North Korea and China, reported that this deportation operation occurred on the night of Oct. 9.

    The newly appointed U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights, Ambassador Julie Turner, highlighted the importance of international cooperation in exposing the "terrible" violations within North Korea during her meeting with South Korea's Foreign Minister Park Jin, Monday.

    Ambassador Turner, who officially assumed her role on Oct. 13, was on a three-day visit to Seoul last week, engaging with government officials, civil society organizations and North Korean defectors.

    "In the global community, it is imperative that we unite our efforts to expose the regime's grievous transgressions and institute tangible changes to enhance the lives of the North Korean people," she said. Ambassador Turner also underlined that the human rights situation in North Korea remains "amongst the worst in the world."

    https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nat...03_361356.html
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

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