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Report: North Korea state security interrogating defectors' relatives

Authorities are investigating local residents of a border town after they found a ledger of wire transmissions from the South.

By Elizabeth Shim
North Koreans build a small building on the banks of the Yalu River near Sinuiju, across the Yalu River from Dandong, China's largest border city with North Korea. Sources in the country say a broker in North Korea fled leaving behind a ledger listing the names and phone numbers of North Korean defectors in the South. File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI
North Koreans build a small building on the banks of the Yalu River near Sinuiju, across the Yalu River from Dandong, China's largest border city with North Korea. Sources in the country say a broker in North Korea fled leaving behind a ledger listing the names and phone numbers of North Korean defectors in the South. File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI | License Photo

SEOUL, May 24 (UPI) -- North Korea's State Security Department has confiscated a private ledger that includes a list of North Korean defectors in the South.

The list belonged to a North Korean remittances broker who unexpectedly escaped the country from the border city of Musan, Seoul-based Free North Korea Radio reported.

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Brokers in North Korea and China are border runners who use Chinese mobile phones to complete wire transactions between the two Koreas.

Due to unforeseen circumstances the broker had to flee the North while in China on business in March, leaving behind the book of records that listed dozens of defectors and their contact information, South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported Tuesday.

The defection wasn't planned and when the broker whose surname is Kim went missing, local security agents alerted central authorities.

State investigations led to the discovery of the ledger, hidden deep inside a wardrobe in Kim's house.

The report dubbed the book a "North Korea hit list," and agents have drawn up a list of 600 citizens who are to be the target of investigations.

A source in North Korea who spoke to FNKR on the condition of anonymity said state security is interrogating about 10 people daily, many of who are family and relatives of the people listed on the ledger.

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But meting out punishment may not be easy, because some of the North Koreans under investigation include security agents – who could have been bribed to keep quiet about wired funds from South Korea-based defectors.

The Kim Jong Un regime is sensitive to the issue of defectors and has heightened security along the China border since 2015 to discourage people from leaving.

Defections, however, continue to grow, and they increasingly include North Koreans of elite standing sent abroad to earn foreign currency.

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