N. Korea Arrests Hoeryong Protest Leaders

You will recall my post regarding the merchants’ protest in Hoeryong, against the closure of a market for which the merchants had already rented stall space from the authorities.  The Daily NK reported that a hundred people protested the decision at the market management office.  Since then, a subsequent report suggested that the authorities might cave.  Any such hope has proven premature.  It’s still North Korea up there.

The Daily NK now reports how the chapter closed:  one dead, 20 arrested.  And that’s probably just a beginning.

One misstatement in the report — this is certainly not the first incident of resistance against the regime, and there is apparently a great deal of dissent in private, although we can’t be sure how much.  There was another wave of dissent in the Northeast in the early 90’s, the last time North Korea’s food situation was this bad.  What we don’t know is whether the regime will be able to localize and put down all such resistance the way it did last time.