North Korea tightens surveillance following purge of Hyon Yong Chol

Last year, following the purge of Jang Song Thaek, The Daily NK reported that mass arrests and increased surveillance had terrorized the elites in Pyongyang. Now, The Daily NK reports that Pyongyang residents, and especially those with family or organizational links to purged Defense Minister Hyon Yong Chol, have been under “a tighter net of surveillance” following the latest purge:

“Military and Party cadres in Pyongyang affiliated with Hyon are living in fear, not knowing whether they will fall victims as well,” a source from Pyongyang currently residing in the Sino-North Korean border area told Daily NK. “They are keeping low profiles to make sure the leadership doesn’t make an example out of them.”

He described Pyongyang as being “awash in tension” in the aftermath of Hyon’s execution. “In the month of May, there have been greater limitations on travel permits to other areas not only for residents but Party cadres as well. State Security Department [SSD] restrictions on mobility have also really been ramped up,” he explained. [Daily NK]

The increased controls include new requirements for cadres to report their routes before traveling anywhere, even in Pyongyang, and new “high-tech mobile phone wiretapping devices” with voice identification technology. Even wealthy merchants’ travel is affected. Permits to travel to the Chinese border have become more difficult to come by, and more expensive, which will affect the price of food and consumer goods. It may further strain relationships with the merchants’ Chinese business partners.

Jang’s purge may not have caused enough distrust between Kim Jong Un and the military to destabilize the regime, but then, we still don’t know why Hyon Yong Chol was purged. For that matter, the regime has not announced Hyon’s* purge, at least externally. It’s hard to believe that a poorly timed power nap would have been the main reason for such an unsettling move, and it’s extraordinarily coincidental that Hyon’s purge came just before South Korea’s National Intelligence Service thought Kim was leaving for a state visit to Moscow, and just after Hyon made a series of visits to Russia. I’ve seen zero direct evidence that a coup plot was afoot, but I’ve yet to see a plausible alternative explanation for last month’s events. Certainly the new reign of terror won’t improve the sense of cohesion in Pyongyang, the city where The Killing Fields meets The Borgias.

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* An earlier version of this post said Jang’s. Thanks to an alert reader for catching the error.