North Korea heightening control of workers, border after defections

SEOUL, April 11 (UPI) -- North Korea is strengthening surveillance of its overseas workers and the China border in the wake of recent defections, raising questions about the stability of the regime.

The defectors, a man and 12 women, had fled from a North Korean restaurant in the Chinese city of Ningbo, near Shanghai, and arrived in South Korea last Thursday.

An ethnic Korean from Shenyang, China, told Yonhap the group defection has led to stricter regulations at the restaurants, which earn money for the North's cash-strapped regime.

A guard watches over the workers, mostly women, even when they sleep, and recently they have been banned from going outside, the source said.

Security is also tightening along the China border, according to a South Korean missionary who works nearby.

The missionary, who does work with defectors in China, said there are reports the rivers frequently used by defectors to cross the border are under heavier patrol. There are more guards manning the posts, and they alternate at more frequent intervals.

North Korea has not issued a statement regarding the unusual group defection at the state-run restaurant.

Most North Korean restaurant employees are allowed to travel overseas because their parents are loyal to the regime and are often upstanding members of the ruling Korean Workers' Party. The recent event is likely a source of embarrassment for the North.

North Korea media outlet Uriminzokkiri, which targets South Koreans, issued a general condemnation of defectors in a video statement Saturday, two days after the group had arrived in the South, according to Newsis.

Other outlets that broadcast to North Koreans were mostly focused on state preparations for the country's Seventh Party Congress, to be held in May.

"Because Comrade Kim Jong Un is with us, our socialist system is invincible and the future of our country is endlessly bright," read one editorial in state newspaper Rodong Sinmun on Monday.

Experts in South Korea say the recent defections and high-level defections in 2015 from Pyongyang's intelligence bureau and embassies abroad are a sign Kim Jong Un's regime is "shaky," Donga Ilbo reported.