North Korean high school students are mocking Group 82 enforcers by pretending to run when spotted, then laughing after inspections reveal no contraband, as intensified crackdowns spark resistance and reveal a generational shift in attitudes toward authority.
“Group 82 has carried out harsh crackdowns in Hoeryong, Chongjin and elsewhere recently, but young people are responding very differently from the past,” a Daily NK source in North Hamgyong province said recently. “Nowadays, young people tease the group’s personnel, letting slip their hostility toward the crackdowns.”
According to the source, this behavior is particularly pronounced among high school students. High school students intentionally attract Group 82 attention by pretending to run, but carry no contraband when inspected, deliberately wasting enforcers’ time.
Since they can’t find anything problematic, the Group 82 members have no choice but to let the students go, and the students turn around and laugh, saying they had “succeeded in annoying” the enforcers.
Group 82 members — aware of what’s happening — can’t hide their displeasure, but there’s little they can do since they have no grounds to punish the students. Because of this, some enforcers have grown skeptical of their work or have tried to avoid patrols, the source said.
Unlike older generations, students only pretend to acknowledge authority
“In the past, when enforcers called you over, you usually got scared and did whatever they told you to do, but now, students know full well that they can’t punish you if they find nothing, so they mock the enforcers, and the enforcers don’t know what to do about it,” the source said.
In North Korea, people can’t directly resist or openly express displeasure with crackdowns or inspections, so they show their hostility indirectly.
In particular, unlike older people who view enforcers as absolute authority figures, students and other young people simply pretend to acknowledge their authority, revealing a clear generational gap in their response to social controls.
Meanwhile, Group 82 has recently conducted intense inspections for foreign content, including South Korean films, TV programs and music, barging into households in neighborhood watch units at any time as it cranks up efforts against “impure recordings.”
“Usually, house inspections are conducted twice a day at most, and there are some days when there are none, but this month, they’ve been going around homes three or four times a day trying to catch at least something,” the source said.
They have intensified their street-side inspections, too, with Group 82 members stopping everyone on the street, from elementary school students to older people in their 50s and 60s.
“With these daily crackdowns, young people are expressing their displeasure with the enforcers in new ways,” the source said. “Because of this, parents with rebellious children in high school are worried that their children will needlessly spark an incident and get in trouble.”
“The intensifying crackdowns spark more resistance from young people,” the source said. “The people upstairs must know that if you press young people too much, bad side effects will emerge, just as a rubber band will break if you pull it back too much.”
December 19, 2025 at 07:00PM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)