Chinese police in Wuhai, Inner Mongolia, have announced plans to crack down on North Korean defectors through a comprehensive end-of-year policy. The measures include offering rewards for tips, creating a database, conducting regular enforcement operations, and applying the country’s counter-espionage law.
According to a source in China recently, the Wuhai police intend to mobilize the public by providing rewards for anyone who provides a tip about North Korean defectors engaged in unusual behavior.
The police mentioned suspected cohabitation with illegal residents and involvement in unlawful acts as examples of defector behavior that could be reported. The rewards for tip-offs will depend on the offender’s gender and circumstances.
The Wuhai police have never before rewarded people for tipping them off about defectors, the source said.
“The police indicated they mean to use these measures to shut off routes for human trafficking of defector women in the city and to safeguard the local community,” the source said.
The Wuhai police intend to take tough measures that include setting up a database containing defectors’ personal information and paying regular visits to defectors’ homes. At the same time, they intend to thoroughly explore the possibility of defectors being concealed in rural areas and to make arrests and issue fines to anybody engaging in human trafficking or residing illegally in the country.
More specifically, the police will regularly drop by the homes of registered defector women and children to update residence registration by the end of the year. They will also visit the homes of unmarried men in rural areas who are likely to be illegally sheltering or housing defector women.
In addition, the Wuhai police intend to strictly apply the Counter-Espionage Law to keep defectors in the city from leaking sensitive information to contacts in North or South Korea.
The police warned that defectors suspected of espionage will face consequences including investigation and repatriation and reminded Chinese men cohabiting with defector women that it is their duty to cooperate with the authorities.
Significantly, the Wuhai police sent the following message to defector women with temporary registration cards who have children with Chinese men: as long as you do not break the law or violate the Counter-Espionage Law, you have nothing to worry about. The message was delivered via the women’s Chinese boyfriends.
That message initially seems intended to reassure defector women who have formed families with Chinese men. But the implied threat is that women who cause problems will be subject to the provisions of the Counter-Espionage Law.
“One defector woman in China occasionally calls North Korea because she misses her parents and siblings and wants to remit money to them. But after hearing the police announcement, she’s afraid that even calling home might be regarded as an act of espionage. She’s terrified at the prospect of someday being sent back to North Korea,” the source said, describing the mood among defectors in China.
Given the increasing need to manage and oversee defectors in the area at the end of the year, the Chinese police are expected to take harsher measures against defectors who are residing illegally in China or engaging in espionage.
Daily NK works with a network of sources in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. For security reasons, their identities remain anonymous.
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December 13, 2024 at 11:48AM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)