It is mainly business as usual, although at a lower level due to restrictions on foreign currency, and:
everyone is watching their words and deeds to avoid getting caught out by the security forces.
However, that doesn’t mean that everything and everyone is in lockdown mode. According to the Changbai source, “The state’s crackdown is harsh, but Chosun people sustain their livelihoods off smuggling and currency exchange, so in some places like Kanggu and Yeonpung (border areas of Yangkang Province) they are continuing to smuggle things across steadily.”
Besides, the source concluded, “On or around the 20th, the order prohibiting business trips will be lifted, illegal phone calls with China will become possible again and smuggling will pick up. The fact that North Korea cannot afford to block trade with China for even a moment means it is inevitable that border phone calls will be possible. The North Korean authorities know as well as we do that traders need to be able to contact their partners by phone for trade exchanges to happen.”
http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk01500&num=8646
Andrej Lankow wrote about Park Heon-young http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2012/01/363_102268.html
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak will visit Chinese President Hu Jintao starting tomorrow, so the information flow will increase again.
AiT any news about the boat off Okinoshima Island; infiltration, defectors or fishermen?
In an email in January after Kim Jong Il’s funeral Dec. 28, Kim Jong Nam voiced his opposition to the hereditary succession system that led to his younger brother, Kim Jong Un, being appointed North Korea's new leader.
Kim Jong Nam is also quoted by Gomi as saying that the existing power group will continue to hold the reins of power and plans to use the new, young leader as a symbol of North Korea.
Kim Jong Nam also said Kim Jong Il had remarked he wouldn't let any of his sons take power.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120108a3.html
The gang of three will not be pleased with this book.