# North Korea Border Links: [[North Korea]] ## [North Korea closes off roads in Sinuiju, leading to serious inconveniences for ordinary people](https://www.dailynk.com/english/north-korea-closes-off-roads-sinuiju-leading-serious-inconveniences-ordinary-people/) [[Daily NK]] on [[2022-02-08]] North Korea has taken measures to restrict public movement in the North Korea-China border region since restarting freight train service with China, closing off certain roads in Sinuiju due to what the authorities call “quarantine issues.” A source in North Pyongan Province told Daily NK on Monday that Sinuiju’s authorities ordered the closure of several roads through early March due to “several circumstances,” including quarantine issues that will arise while processing goods transported to North Korea by train from China. ## [＜Inside N. Korea＞ Exchange Rates for Foreign Currencies Skyrocket After Resumption of Railroad Trade; U.S. Dollar rises 24%](https://www.asiapress.org/rimjin-gang/2022/01/society-economy/kyutou/) [[2022-01-24]] Railroad trade resuming is definitely positive news ## Border Crossing, North and South https://www.piie.com/blogs/north-korea-witness-transformation/border-crossing-north-and-south [[Peterson Institute for International Economics]] Two stories about border crossings happened to coincide last week, and provide their own little microcosm of the divided peninsula. South Korea has been transfixed by the story of the North Korean solider who defected in a hail of bullets at Panmunjom, the first shooting incident at the Joint Security Area (JSA) since 1984. An unambiguous North Korean violation of the armistice, the effort to kill the soldier, identified only as Oh, is reminiscent of the cruel shootings along the Berlin Wall. In an Orwellian turn, the shooting of citizens seeking to leave East Germany was defended by the regime as integral to the defense of the country's borders. ==In an [Academic Sources post](https://piie.com/blogs/north-korea-witness-transformation/academic-sources-aleman-and-woods-travel-restrictions?p=13837), I reviewed an interesting piece of social science by Jose Aleman and Dwayne Woods that explains this apparently upside-down logic. They not only find that authoritarian regimes have more restrictive exit policies, they also find that those that do tend to be more stable.== One of the findings of Anna Fifield's recent [survey](https://piie.com/blogs/north-korea-witness-transformation/new-refugee-testimony-anna-fifield) of 25 North Korean refugees is that exit has become tougher under Kim Jong Un and the regime is believed to have replaced the entire contingent of forces in the JSA. We can only hope that the North Korean purveyors of such cruel policies meet the same fate as their East German predecessors. None other than Egon Krenz as well as four other high-ranking East German officials were ultimately brought to justice for the shootings in the 1990s and spent time in prison. ### Referenced review of study https://www.piie.com/blogs/north-korea-witness-transformation/academic-sources-aleman-and-woods-travel-restrictions?p=13837 Amantra of this blog has been that whatever happens at the official level, the outside world should be doing its best to “get people in, get people out.” The idea is not simply the “hole in the fence” strategy of fomenting collapse through an outpouring of refugees; China is not going to let that happen. It is also related to how information affects citizens’, and even elites’, conceptions of politics and the national interest. We recently came across a an interesting piece by political scientists Jose Aleman and Dwayne Woods (at Fordham and Purdue respectively) entitled ["No Way Out: Travel Restrictions and Authoritarian Regimes"](https://www.academia.edu/7307426/No_Way_Out_Travel_Restrictions_and_Authoritarian_Regimes) at _Migration and Development._ Aleman and Woods walk through the pros and cons for authoritarian regimes of letting their citizens travel. On the one hand, it could provide an escape valve for those who can afford it, making them more compliant at home. ([[Andrei Lankov]] recently suggested to me that such a motive may account for a recent relaxation of North Korean elite travel). On the other hand, you run the risk that travelers may see the advantages of more open societies and recognize the foibles of their own. Drawing on data on travel restrictions collated by the [CIRI Human Rights Data Project](http://www.humanrightsdata.com/), Aleman and Woods set out to test the proposition using a panel (random intercept) set-up on 61 countries for the 1982-2008 period, excluding democracies and a handful of other hard-to-categorize regime types. They are rightly cautious on the findings of the exercise given the complex links between travel restrictions, civil liberties and regime change. But the findings are nonetheless suggestive: - Full autocracies (as measured by widely used Polity data) restrict travel more than competitive authoritarian regimes (or democracies, which are clearly most liberal). Not surprisingly, North Korea is at the most restrictive end of the spectrum. - Freedom of movement is positively and significantly associated with higher levels of and changes over time in civil rights scores; more open travel, more civil liberties. - This effect is partly, but not wholly, related to emigration policies. Countries with restrictions on travel have lower rates of emigration than countries without such restrictions, controlling for population and income levels. But modeling around this shows that there are in fact distinct “travel restriction” and “emigration” channels. - ==However, since civil liberties have the potential to destabilizing authoritarian rule by increasing the costs of repression, authoritarian regimes that impose travel restrictions are actually more stable--ie., less prone to breakdown--than those that do not.== These results are a little paradoxical from the standpoint of policy. ==They suggest that the North Korean regime is well-aware of the risks of relaxing travel, and precisely for that reason is cautious.== ==But this may depend on a complex dynamic associated with maintaining elite loyalty: that it is not the average citizen that will chafe at such restraints, but loyalists who will feel cloistered. Will lifting travel restrictions have the effect of buying them off—making them more comfortable with the status quo—or exposing them to information that is infectious?== From a policy standpoint, the answer to this question does not ultimately matter. Fewer restrictions are normatively better than more and we should therefore place our bet on the latter and do everything we can to make sure that we are not the source of the restrictions. ## Articles to read ### [Interview] How are North Korea’s markets doing following the closure of the Sino-North Korean border? https://www.dailynk.com/english/interview-how-north-korea-markets-doing-following-closure-sino-north-korean-border/ ### N. Korean investigation finds over 110 cases of “unauthorized entry” into Pyongyang https://www.dailynk.com/english/north-korean-investigation-finds-over-110-cases-unauthorized-entry-pyongyang/ ### It's getting harder and harder to defect "With fences of high-tension power lines and trace lines (areas set up to leave tracks) being created to stop defectors, one can only guess when the winds of change will blow in this huge prison-like country." ![[Pasted image 20211201212226.png]] > North Korean soldiers working on building fences on the Sino-North Korean border. / Image: Kang Dong Wan https://www.dailynk.com/english/observing-changes-north-korea-slogans-across-border/ ### 7x inflation on food items due to border closure https://www.dailynk.com/english/north-koreans-harder-than-ever-find-imported-food-products-local-markets/ ##### "North Koreans find it harder than ever to find imported food products at local markets" By [[Seulkee Jang]] on [[2021-04-01]] North Koreans are finding it more difficult than ever to find imported food products in the country’s markets, Daily NK has learned. Indeed, prices of some items are now seven times higher than they were before the blockade was put in place early last year. ==A source in South Pyongan Province told Daily NK last Friday that the price of one kilogram of flour at the Pyongsong Okjon General Market was KPW 11,200 on Mar. 23, more than three times higher than in October of last year.== Last year, North Korean authorities declared an “80-day battle” to reach the country’s economic targets, limiting market operation hours to three hours between 3 PM and 6 PM. This policy reportedly led to great discontent among merchants. Business hours were increased back to eight hours at the beginning of this year, but with the start of the agricultural season just around the corner, opening hours will likely shift to 4 PM to 8 PM to accommodate all the people mobilized to assist with farming. “There has to be a steady flow of goods and consistent business hours for anyone to make money, but all we get is more interference from the authorities,” the source said. “People keep saying that trade will resume, but no measures [have been implemented by the authorities] to actually make that happen.” ### North Korea May Be Using 5G Technology to Monitor Its Border With China https://thediplomat.com/2021/07/north-korea-may-be-using-5g-technology-to-monitor-its-border-with-china/ ##### North Korean authorities installed new surveillance cameras near the Yalu River in Sinuiju last month, according to a source in the country. By [[Seulkee Jang]] for [[The Diplomat]] on [[2021-07-15]] The move is part of the country’s plan to construct a 5G surveillance network along the border, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. **Based on the source’s account, at least one camera was installed every 100 meters.** The cameras were installed where smuggling and defections are rife because the authorities have difficulty keeping the area under direct surveillance. **Because the cameras rotate 360 degrees as they record**, North Koreans may face more difficulty in attempting to conduct smuggling or defect across the border – as long as the equipment is operating properly. **The installation of the new cameras basically means significant surveillance blind spots have disappeared, albeit only along parts of the China-North Korea border.** Although border patrol troops based along the Sino-North Korean border have managed the existing network of cameras, the new cameras are directly monitored and managed by the Operations Office of the Ministry of State Security in Pyongyang, according to the source. **Given the fact that border patrol troops often turn a blind eye to illegal activities in collusion with local smugglers and “brokers,” the security ministry has not given them authority to monitor the cameras. Instead, they have simply been tasked with physically maintaining and inspecting the devices, the source said.** The authorities can remotely monitor the border cameras from Pyongyang thanks to the installation of 5G equipment and recently-developed cameras along stretches of the border, he added. Moreover, because Sinuiju and Pyongyang are around 230 kilometers apart, with mountains accounting for much of that distance, building a 5G network between the two cities would likely prove difficult. It would also require a significant amount of equipment and money.