The recent arrest of approximately 100 overseas Chinese citizens residing in North Korea, or Hwagyo, stems from a report rendered by the State Security Department detailing leaks of internal information through members of this foreign community, Daily NK has learned.
A source with ties to North Korea currently residing in Dandong, China spoke to Daily NK on December 20th, noting, “It’s well known that most members of the Hwagyo community here in North Korea are earning ‘dirty money.’ Some of them establish close connections with the North Korean State Security Department [SSD], especially those with very profitable or large business interests.”
In order to pursue these economic interests, she added, they must cooperate closely with the North Korean SSD, who have reported back to central bodies of spies lurking within the Hwagyo community.
Because these residents are privy to comparatively detailed internal information, the State Security Department has begun to suspect that they could turn at any time and leak that information to the outside. Not only that, the SSD has acquired intel that these overseas residents are acting as double agents: one foot embedded in the North Korean intelligence web and the other firmly planted below the DMZ with the South Korean authorities.
“Kim Jong Un is extremely sensitive to the potential for overseas Chinese residents, who can travel between North Korea and China with relative freedom, to make contact with South Korea,” the source explained.
“By reacting this way to negative talk of the regime leaking to the outside, the authorities are catching and seeking to make examples out of those caught up in the sweep."
As previously reported by Daily NK, this is not the first time the North Korean authorities have harbored and then acted on these fears.
A source in Hamgyong Province offered more insight on the same day. He reported hearing of arrests of overseas Chinese residents around Hoeryong City back in the fall of this year. Prior to being detained, these individuals had been under intense surveillance by the SSD, “who were desperate to find anything that could be interpreted as leading information to the outside.”
It has also been observed that crackdowns and investigations have been on the rise over Hwagyo’s expanding influence in and increasing domination of the markets. As they roll along in 10t cargo trucks, of which it is not uncommon for them to own two or three, North Korean residents witnessing the scenes say, “that’s where the big money is.”
Tellingly, North Korea’s delivery workers frequently hang around in front of the Hwagyo residences, known among many as “little kingdoms.” Working alongside in such proximity in evermore interconnected ways, “Kim Jong Un is concerned about the growing influence these people [Hwagyo] are having on North Korean citizens,” the source asserted.
Evidence of Hwagyo affluence is patent, he went on, citing examples such as “how they employ maids and send their kids back to China to study.”
When asked why the North Korean authorities are keeping mum about these developments, he asserted that "they know that if they claim it’s not true, it will only confirm that it actually is.”
“People in China who suddenly cannot make contact with friends and relatives living in North Korea are staying silent about the issue as well. This is because they judge that making a fuss will prove detrimental to China’s future negotiations over the discharge of those who have been arrested," he added.
Our source posited that in the future, North Korea would not release any information about this incident nor would their be any formal trials. "The entire matter will be settled quietly," he said. "After getting extracting the ‘whole truth’ from the Hwagyo suspects, they will be forcibly deported [back to China] and attempt to resolve the issue in that way."
As for the future of Sino-North Korean relations following this debacle, “it’s likely that because both sides are trying not to make a big deal out of it, there will be no major or lasting effects on bilateral ties. China, for its part, is working hard to cover up the incident, hoping to put it in the rearview mirror as soon as possible.”
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