Borders can be a touchy point for Communist
regimes. East Germany, of the Berlin Wall and the most heavily
armed border in the world back in the 1980s, began to totter when
in 1989 the Hungarians started allowing refugees asylum and transit
to the West. (Oddly,
the Hungarian Prime Minister is currently visiting Seoul and is
talking about
boosting economic ties.)
Now, the North Korean-Chinese border is causing problems for
Pyongyang:
N. Korea launches harsh crackdown:
[T]wo North Koreans were shot to death in public [on
February 28] on charge of smuggling North Korean women into China,
according to a Seoul-based online radio service run by defectors
from the communist nation. ...
According to North Korean defectors and intelligence sources in
Seoul, human trafficking is rampant in North Korea for sex trade
and labor. ...
So far this year, North Korea has executed more than 60 citizens to
warn its people against committing any "anti-republic" behaviors,
such as illegal border crossing and information leakage, according
to [the Seoul-based Headquarters for Protection of North Korean
Defectors].
The article points out that 'North Korea amended its criminal code
last year increasing penalties for expressing criticism of the
government and other "anti-state" crimes. The revision, the fifth
since 1950, also calls for tougher regulation on new crimes caused
by infiltration of outside information.' And now the regime is
restricting cellphone use:
Many North Koreans, including border peddlers and
border guards, have Chinese cell phones, and they easily contact
South Koreans with them in the border areas. ...
Chinese communication firms, which have rapidly expanded their cell
phone services, recently installed relay stations along the border
with North Korea, which has kindled a cell phone boom in North
Korea.
The Chinese devices are charged using pre-paid phone cards, and
cost some 400 Chinese yuan (less than $50) for three month's
use.
About the statement that the DPRK is banning and confiscating
cellphones, there isn't any elaboration.
US
SecState Rice will visit the South on Saturday March 19 and
Sunday March 20, Xinhuanet reports the ROK's Foreign Ministry as
saying.