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Shinuiju Special Administrative Region Plan Propelled Once Again

30,000 Residents to be Expelled, "Limited" Liberalization Foreseeable
By Kwon Jeong Hyun, Dandong of China / Kwak Dae Jung, Editorial Board
[ 2006-02-13 16:19 ]



A high level internal source in North Korea on 12th reported North Korea is under process of restarting development of Shinuiju Special Administrative Region.

According to the source, a mass number of the residents were moved to rural areas, set up plans to move administrative offices and carrying out road to Dandong, China is under expansion construction. They are also coming up with measure to better control use of cellular phones and other political measures.

Such recent development activities in Shinuiju mainly took place after Kim Jong Il�fs visit to China, which seems to be part of North Korea�fs reformation and liberalization plan.

�Ÿ Driving Out the Residents and their Number

The source reported, �gThey are planning to move the Shinuiju residents of about 7,000 families (25,000 to 30,000 people) to close cities and rural areas. Their plan is to strictly sort out those from �gbad families�h and those who have committed political errors (wrongdoings) and move them to Chulsan-gun, Donglim-gun, Yomju-gun, and Taechun-gun of North Pyongan province.�h

September 2002, North Korea announced Shinuiju as the Special Administrative Region and nominated Yang Bin, president of Ouya Group at the time, who was the invited minister of Shinuiju Special Administrative Region said, �gWe will move the current 200,000 Shinuiju residents to another place.�h

At the time, the North Korean government started to build 3m high fence around the designated region, which clearly showed its preparation to make Shinuiju an isolated Special Administrative Region.

Kim Eun Chul, president of Backdu-Halla Association, a young adults defectors organization and a former Shinuiju resident, said, �gChulsan-gun, Donglim-gun, Yomju-gun, and Taechun-gun are agriculture areas where there is no military or manufacture production facilities, thus are adequate to move the residents.�h

�gThere has been rumors about moving those people with unclear background out of the region every time they talked about making Special Administrative Region.�h

�Ÿ Provincial Administrative Offices to be Moved

The source reported, �gthe provincial offices located in Shinuiju city are rebuilt in South Shinuiju and roads to Dandong, China are under construction to be expanded.�h

Shinuiju�fs administrative offices refer to provincial offices of North Pyongan Province, including Provincial Party (office), People�fs Committee, and Administrative Committee. Plan to move these offices to South Shinuiju had been announced when the government announced the plan for Shinuiju Special Administrative Region in September 2002. South Shinuiju is located about 3km away from downtown Shinuiju and when Shinuiju becomes a Special Administrative Region, administrative works will be divided and South Shuinuiju will take provincial administrative works in charge.

Yet another source said, �gAmong the Shinuiju residents, rumors are spreading that Kim Jong Il�fs visit to China was for iron and oil trade.�h Shinuiju relied on Chinese aid or trade for most of industrial facilities and as an example, currently, Baekmawon Oil Factory in Shinuiju is receiving oil aid of 1,500,000tons per year from China.

�Ÿ Political Constraint Measure

Starting February 1, revised law regarding use of cellular phones applies. Before cellular phones were managed by the National Security Agency, but now under the new law, they are managed by security offices (police offices).

The sources report that the security offices have posted phone detectors in here and there to defect cellular phones. In January, a number of Chinese descendent Koreans were caught using cellular phones in Ryongchon and were fined $500 USD each.

Meanwhile, the provincial security office newly established �gdetection department.�h This department has more power than inspection department, and mobilizes by cars catches all the wrongdoings and �gunsocialist�h activities at the spot.

The source said he believes such recent events to be pre-steps before liberalization. �gIt is a measure they are taking to liberalize economy yet maintain politics as it is,�h he explained.