Mick Hartley

Keeping the riff-raff out – for “the safety of the revolutionary leadership”:

North Korea is constructing high-voltage fences in sparsely inhabited regions along the municipal borders of Pyongyang, Daily NK has learned….

Based on the source’s account, the order instructed the agencies to install 3,300 volt wires, transformers, thermal cameras and other equipment along sparsely inhabited stretches of Pyongyang’s city limits, which residents of other areas of the country have used as pathways to illegally enter the capital….

The order explained that construction of the fences is aimed at ensuring “the safety of the revolutionary leadership,” and that the authorities must thoroughly establish a “new order” and “strict system” for controlling access to the capital. It is noteworthy that the North Korean authorities stated in the order that the measure is aimed at protecting the personal safety of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un….

Daily NK’s source in Pyongyang said the authorities issued the February order because residents of other areas of the country continued to illegally enter Pyongyang in significant numbers despite intensified efforts to restrict access to the city during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

People caught illegally entering Pyongyang without city residence cards or entry permit numbers told city authorities that they entered the capital through sparsely inhabited hillside areas. These testimonies led the authorities to see the need to construct high-voltage fences in those places, the source said.