The North Korean authorities have been using recent domestic lectures to claim that nine North Koreans who drifted into South Korean waters near Yeonpyeong Island on June 11th were “abducted by South Korea.” As a result of the defections, they are also enhancing oversight of the use of fishing vessels, and this is causing problems for the normal summer trade in squid.
A source from Kim Chaek on the east coast of North Hamkyung Province reported the news to The Daily NK today, saying, “There was a people’s unit meeting on the 27th of last month, ‘Let’s defend the leadership of the revolution with high attention to the anti-Republic maneuvers of the enemy of the proletariat class’. The chairperson told us that ‘some people who went fishing in early June were kidnapped by South Chosun.’”
“Now, the situation is tense, so you must be especially careful,” the chairperson reportedly also warned.
The source added, however, that many people know the truth, saying, “People who get all the West Sea talk through seamen don’t believe the people’s unit meeting, but say, ‘What a bare-faced lie is!” In addition, he pointed out, “The East Sea has high waves and the water is deep, so going to South Chosun would be hard. Why they are worrying about us I have no idea.”
Kim Chaek is a key squid fishing location between June and September each year. Local individuals purchase space on a vessel from the captain, with part of their payment being used to buy fuel. Then, when the boat is full, the captain sets sail for the rich squid fishing grounds off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula. Upon their return, the fishermen are able to sell their catch to the outside traders, who sell it on in other regions.
Although this is illegal, vessel captains and many local people have long earned much of their annual living during the three month summer season. However, the current crackdown has affected this means of survival, since vessel captains are wary of taking money from fishermen while the local security forces are checking people coming to the city much more carefully than they would normally do.
“It is the squid fishing season, but due to the crackdown on the fishing industry the price of squid is rising out of all recognition,” the source explained. “Traders are also complaining a lot since they cannot get hold of squid.”
Meanwhile, people living in the border region between North Korea and China have also been told the ‘West Sea kidnappings’ tale.
A source from Musan explained what he had heard, saying, “There was a lecture by a local NSA official on the 26th, where he said that traitors who were fooled into defecting by the persuasion and deception of the South Chosun puppets would be open to the stern judgment of the motherland.”
“The NSA agent said, ‘The people who went fishing in the West Sea got kidnapped by South Chosun’, and demanded that we be very careful,” the source said.
However, “Here, the word doing the rounds via defector families is that ‘they took the boat and ran off to South Chosun’, so people hearing this lecture are doubtful. Some people also point out that if they had been kidnapped by South Chosun then it would have been all over the newspapers and TV, but an NSA agent holding a meeting shows they are worried we might escape and are applying pressure.”
On June 16th, the North threatened that if the nine North Koreans currently in South Korea are not returned then inter-Korean relations would further deteriorate; however, the South Korean administration is sticking to the position that their free choice will be respected.
