Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature currently requires accessing the site using the built-in Safari browser.
A source in North Hamgyong Province who spoke anonymously said dozens of 5,000 North Korean won bills were found inscribed with the words, "Let's punish Kim Jong Un" in the city of Hoeryong in North Hamgyong Province, South Korean news service Daily NK reported Friday. The bills were found scattered around the city that is also the birthplace of Kim Jong Suk, the North Korean leader's biological grandmother. "Earlier in [December] in the Nammun-dong district of Hoeryong City dozens of bills inscribed with phrases like, 'Overthrow Kim Jong Un,' and 'Let's punish Kim Jong Un' were found scattered around," the source said. "The phrases were written in ballpoint pen over the [bill's] portrait of Kim Il Sung."
The source also said the bills were found strewn across an area of the city with heavy foot traffic and is therefore likely to have a "great propaganda effect." "As soon as the bills were discovered, state security agents were dispatched to collect the material," the source added. City-level security officials have classified the incident as highly confidential and have dispatched investigators to conduct handwriting tests to narrow down a list of suspects. "So far, I haven't heard of any arrests," Daily NK's source said.
Earlier in the week, multiple sources confirmed anti-Kim sentiment is rising in different parts of North Korea. Leaflets calling for the removal of Kim from power were found in a historic town known for its associations with North Korea's anti-colonial struggle, and graffiti was found in a busy marketplace in Chongjin, North Hamgyong Province.
Report: Notes on North Korean currency call for 'punishment' of Kim Jong Un
A source in the country said Pyongyang is taking a significant amount of raw material contributions from Beijing and redirecting the goods to rehabilitate roads for exclusive military use, Radio Free Asia reported. "Reconstruction is underway for a military road near Punggye-ri that had been neglected for a long time," the source said. "The North Korean authorities had included the road construction work as part of the 200-day battle on flood recovery."
The state is abusing its power to siphon resources from disaster work to improve military facilities, according to the report. China had announced in November a $3 million relief package to North Korea for humanitarian aid and reconstruction projects. The aid was delivered as other countries, including South Korea and Japan, refrained from providing flood assistance because they wanted more transparency about how aid would be allocated.
A second source in Yanggang Province said the military road repair work was being carried out according to a special directive from North Korea's central military commission, and that the project was to be completed "at any cost" by May 2017. The source added the military road was unaffected by the floods and had been in a bad condition for a long time. The news comes at a time when North Korea is concluding the mass mobilization movement, or the 200-day battle.
Pyongyang's state-controlled television network KCTV stated Friday productivity has increased during the period, including in fisheries where catches of fish surpassed target numbers by "170 percent." North Korea media reported Kim Jong Un visited a military-run fishery station to commemorate the end of the movement.
North Korea using flood aid to repair military roads, report says
