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China-Japan-Koreas
Three N. Koreans killed trying to escape
2012-01-04
Hat tip Josh Stanton.
Three North Koreans who attempted to cross the border were shot to death over the weekend, a North Korean human rights group said Monday.

Do Hee-yoon, head of the Citizens’ Coalition for the Human Rights of Abductees and North Korean Refugees in South Korea, said, “Three North Korean men crossing the Yalu River to China were shot dead by North Korean border guards at 5 p.m. Saturday,” adding he heard the news from a source in Changbai, China.

The killings occurred a day after North Korea`s new leader Suet Face Kim Jong Un was appointed supreme commander of the armed forces Friday. Pyongyang has reportedly tightened border controls and increased surveillance over those trying to escape since Kim Jong IlÂ’s death.
Wouldn't do for anyone to run out on Pudgy's coronation. Shows a certain..lack of respect...
Saturday`s deaths were the first killings of border-crossing defectors under the Kim Jong Un government.
But won't be the last...
“The border guards shot three 40-something men crossing the frozen Yalu river when it got dark, and they took away the dead bodies,” Do said, adding, “People were waiting for the defectors on the Chinese side but there was nothing they could do.”

The upstream of the Yalu River in Hyesan of North Korea`s Ryanggang Province is a route preferred by defectors because of its narrow width.

The incident could serve as a harbinger of stricter border control in North Korea.

“It has become tougher to call North Koreans in the border region with a cellphone since the end of last year,” a source from the North said. “Pyongyang has increased jamming to disrupt cellphone use as part of its tighter control.”

Unlike the past that families have tried to escape North Korea together, the three men`s try to escape reflects the North`s stricter border control given that women and children are physically weaker than men.
Posted by:Steve White

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