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N. Korea calls for preparing for collapse in ties with China: report

N. Korea calls for preparing for collapse in ties with China: report

Posted February. 23, 2017 07:14,   

Updated February. 23, 2017 07:27

한국어

North Korea is holding public lectures to companies in the border area with China., calling for preparing for a collapse of the Pyongyang-Beijing relationship, the Daily NK, a South Korean Internet newspaper specializing in North Korean news reported Tuesday.

The Daily NK quoted a source in North Pyongan Province that recent lectures at companies under the Sinuiju people’s committee stressed multiple times that China should be kept in check because Pyongyang’s ties with Beijing would not improve. The lecturers even urged the companies’ workers to prepare for a collapse in the bilateral relations and never to rely on or trust China. The source was also quoted as saying that the lecturers were given to enterprises with more than 100 employees, all leading to a conclusion that North Korea should build a powerful country on its own.

Separately, North Korea has taken emergency measures to prevent the news of the murder of Kim Jong Nam, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s half-brother, from being spread in the North. Free North Korea Radio, a radio broadcaster run by North Korean defectors to South Korea, cited a source in the North Korean city of Sinuiju as saying that the Ministry of People’s Security held inspections in the border areas where the news of Kim Jong Nam’s assassination spread rapidly by traders and smugglers. The inspectors reportedly told local residents in the areas to establish a system for reporting those communicating with defectors to the South and not to spread any rumors.



Sung-Ha Joo zsh75@donga.com