Posted on 08/06/2010 6:46:49 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
More Middle-Class N.Koreans Defect
There appears to have been a shift in the profile of defectors fleeing North Korea since a botched currency reform late last year. Before the reform, most of the defectors were so poor that they did not care whether they would be killed if they were caught fleeing the North.
But since the currency reform, more middle-class North Koreans have been fleeing the North, a South Korean security official speculated.
A North Korean source on Tuesday said the currency reform alienated many people from the regime, and the spread of South Korean pop culture through videos and CDs clandestinely circulated in the North has also encouraged some middle and higher-class North Koreans to flee. In recent days, many people who lost their savings due to the currency reform have reportedly decided to flee.
A South Korean government official said, "Due to tight surveillance, those who want to flee must bribe brokers or North Korean border guards with a lot of money. The fact that these people have enough money to flee means that they are of the middle or higher class or have relatives in South Korea."
Reports say the number of upper-class North Korean defectors, like children of senior officials, has risen. Their arrival in South Korea has not been publicized here, and no statistics are available because they do not need to attend classes at Hanawon, a center for helping defectors adapt to a new life in the South, as ordinary defectors do.
Since early this year, the North has been bent on rounding up defectors, because it is apparently worried about the middle-class exodus. The North's two public security agencies, the Ministry of Public Security and the State Security Department, issued their first-ever joint statement in February calling the defectors "scumbags."
In March, a spokesman for the North's National Reconciliation Council issued a statement pointing out South Korean civic groups behind North Korean defectors and said they will be "primary targets of punishment." Since June, the regime has been sending agents to China and other countries to round up defectors.
Prof. Lee Jo-won of Chunggng University said, "It must be hard for the North Korean regime to see society's backbone break away at a time when the power succession is looming."
Hmmm.... very interesting development. As the article says, the regime's backbone is cracking.
P!
Am I the only person hoping for a Ceaucescu style retirement party for the Kim clan?
The end of the Nork regime should all be quite splendid when it finally transpires.
I’d have to believe that you don’t get to be middle class in NK without somehow being part of the problem.
I’d agree but I might also advise the folks in the south to keep that DMZ up for a bit and make the unification more gradual than Germany’s.
ROFL
“Am I the only person hoping for a Ceaucescu style retirement party for the Kim clan?”
Well, now that you mention it. No
That is what everybody hopes for:S. Koreans, Japanese, Americans, Chinese, and Russians. However, deep down in the mind of many, they feel that this won’t end well, despite their best wish.
Or are Urban Koreans leaving while Rural folks are staying?
That suggests a breakdown in food distribution. North Koreans are still starving, right?
How many more years of Democrat party communist rule before the start of the exodus of what’s left of the middle class from the U.S.?
N Korea, like all “classless” societies is deeply corrupt. A little money buys a favor.
“very interesting development. As the article says, the regime’s backbone is cracking.”
That was happening in China in the early ‘70s and Nixon bailed them out. This would have been Obama’s big chance...
Now if we could only free the American slaves.
Those who have enough money to bribe guards and pay off escape brokers can buy food in one way or another. The urban poor and many peasant in the country side are usually hard-hit and face starvation.
Things have gotten worse since second half of last year. Failed currency reform, sweeping crackdown by authorities to keep people in line, rising military tension(e.g., sinking of Cheonan,) looming power struggle for succession. It is customary to comb people's backround and past history to find some dirt and severely punish them in order to make example out of them, to keep people in line. In the power struggle, elites get grouped into a certain faction, based on their personal connection or association with major players in the intrigue. Frequently, you get pigeonholed into one faction or another even when you are not really connected. Like a distant cousin of somebody who are close to one of the major players in the power struggle.
In this atmosphere, a single misstep or a pure bad luck could send you prison camp or shot. Those who got grouped into a losing faction would be subject to a wholesale purge. Since the name of the game is to wipe out even tiny seed of potential trouble.
If the situation weren't so dire the above is actually hilarious.
Splendid or bloody. Hopefully it won’t be radioactive.
That has been the case with N. Korea for some time. They make some ludicrous statements, but are deadly serious, bent on fulfilling them.
Hello Tiger.....No, I don’t think it will end well either. It is more than heartbreaking hearing the stories coming out of N.Korea. They all have to wear masks of one form or another just to survive the scruitiny even of their own families....all have to look over their shoulder. It is beyond sad.
I sometimes wonder if China isnt just waiting til more people die of starvation so they can go in and take control. Their streets and buildings and all the industry has just gone to pot...vacant and or empty and rapidly wearing down.
I saw where there were once trees, there are none now for people trying to find any food and warmth from wood in winter. It is just so very sad.
What’s even funnier is that both the Ministry of Public Security and the State Security Department actually want those ‘scumbags’ back.
As opposed to saying ‘Good riddance’.
That answers my question. I was wondering if farmers out in the countryside might have a better chance in this environment. They can grow their own food and barter with it, avoiding the failed currency. Although no place would be safe, being out in the sticks, far from gov't and the military, might be better.
Watching NK collapse into anarchy is painful and nerve-wracking, but the info might be useful. Who knows, we might be in a similar situation ourselves, someday.
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