A source in Pyongyang told Daily NK on Monday that about 450 people from the capital and provincial regions who were “connected to the personal safety” of the North Korean leader were sent to political prison camps on or around May 12.
“They were dragged off without proper trials, and it seems completely unlikely that they’ll reenter society,” he claimed.
According to the source, the officials were secretly arrested by the Ministry of State Security, while the military’s security bureau, the Central Public Prosecutor’s Office and Central Court joined the Ministry of Defense in investigating and trying the cases.
However, the source said decisions were meaningless because they were not the result of proper trials.
On May 1, Kim Jong Un took a commemorative photo with Pyongyang university students and young workers who took part in the Apr. 25 military parade to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of North Korea’s military.
Daily NK reported in mid-May that a university student who attended the photo shoot was infected with COVID-19. According to a source at the time, the authorities considered this a serious incident that could not be overlooked because it was matter connected to the personal safety of the nation’s supreme leader.
“The people who couldn’t properly weed out the fever cases from the photo shoot were dragged off to the political prison camps,” said the source. “The cadre in charge of the Defense Ministry’s Bureau 10, which was mobilized for the event, his family and other individuals were deemed to have committed a counterrevolutionary act that gravely threatened the personal security of the revolutionary leadership by causing problems in guarding and securing Kim.”
The source suggested that some of those dragged off were sent to camps run by the Ministry of State Security rather than the Ministry of Social Security. These camps are where the really serious political offenders go: once somebody goes in, they never come out.
Both the Ministry of Social Security and Ministry of State Security operate political prison camps. Given that most camps operated by the Ministry of State Security are tightly controlled, however, inmates are extremely unlikely to rejoin society.
Meanwhile, people in areas outside of Pyongyang were also punished for spreading rumors about the photo shoot incident. These people appear to have been punished as a warning to others to refrain from spreading unnecessary rumors.
Specifically, the authorities arrested people who engaged in “idle talk about the security of the revolutionary leadership,” selecting targets at random among those who spoke of the event Kim attended, the source said.
People arrested made comments that included: “They were taking a commemorative photo with Kim when the photographer coughed”; “He had a fever, but he thought it was a cold and attended the event”; and “COVID-19 instantly spread because everyone stood tightly together with Kim to take the photo.”
The authorities considered the backgrounds of potential targets of arrests, the source said.
“If somebody in your family was a pilot, liaison officer, a national hero or had an audience with Kim Jong Un, you were excluded from punishment, no matter how dodgy and fake the rumors you spread were,” he said.
Meanwhile, people aware of the arrests are staying as quiet as possible, worried that they could needlessly get themselves in trouble if they say the wrong thing.
The source quoted some people as saying that 450 people is not that big a number, so individuals close to those arrested are keeping silent, worried that the authorities might target them, too.
“The Ministry of State Security warned people that they should wipe those dragged off to the camps from their memories, as if they’ve never seen or heard them,” he added.
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Source:dailynk.com/english