Coercion, Control, Surveillance, and Punishment An Examination of the North Korean Police State Ken E. Gause The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea Committee for Human Rights in North Korea Coercion, Control, Surveillance, and Punishment An Examination of the North Korean Police State Ken E. Gause Committee for Human Rights in North Korea 1001 Connecticut Avenue, NW Suite 435 Washington, DC 20036 (202) 499-7973 www.hrnk.org Ken E. Gause Copyright © 2012 by the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 0985648015 Library of Congress Control Number: 2012943393 Coercion, Control, Surveillance, and Punishment An Examination of the North Korean Police State Ken E. Gause Committee for Human Rights in North Korea 1001 Connecticut Avenue, NW Suite 435 Washington, DC 20036 Committee for Human Rights in North Korea BOARD OF DIRECTORS (affiliations provided solely for identification) Roberta Cohen Co-Chair Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution Andrew Natsios Co-Chair Former Administrator, USAID Professor, Georgetown University Suzanne Scholte Vice-Co-Chair President, Defense Forum Foundation Seoul Peace Prize Laureate Gordon Flake Vice-Co-Chair Executive Director, Mike and Maureen Mansfield Foundation Helen-Louise Hunter Secretary Attorney and Author John Despres Treasurer Consultant on International Financial & Strategic Affairs Greg Scarlatoiu Executive Director, Committee for Human Rights in North Korea Morton Abramowitz Senior Fellow, The Century Foundation Jerome Cohen Co-Director, US-Asia Law Institute, NYU Law School Adjunct Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations Lisa Colacurcio Advisor, Impact Investments Rabbi Abraham Cooper Associate Dean, Simon Wiesenthal Center Committee for Human Rights in North Korea Ken E. Gause Jack David Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute Paula Dobriansky Senior Fellow, Belfer Center, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University Nicholas Eberstadt Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy, American Enterprise Institute Carl Gershman President, National Endowment for Democracy Steven Kahng General Partner, 4C Ventures, Inc. David Kim Coordinator, The Asia Foundation Thai Lee President, SHI International Inc. Debra Liang-Fenton U.S. Institute of Peace Former Executive Director, Committee for Human Rights in North Korea Winston Lord Former Assistant Secretary for East Asia, Department of State Marcus Noland Deputy Director and Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics Jacqueline Pak Professor, Cornell University Katrina Lantos Swett President and CEO, Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice Richard Williamson Principal, Salisbury Strategies Ken E. Gause TABLE OF CONTENTS About the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.....................................2 About the Author.....................................................................................................4 Preface......................................................................................................................5 A Note about Sources...............................................................................................8 Acknowledgments....................................................................................................9 Introduction...........................................................................................................10 Part I: The Internal Security Agencies..................................................................17 State Security Department (SSD)......................................................................17 Ministry of People’s Security (MPS)...................................................................26 Military Security Command (MSC)..................................................................36 Neighborhood Watch Units (In-min-ban)..........................................................42 Ad Hoc Social Monitoring Organizations..........................................................49 Part II: What the Internal Security Agencies Do.................................................53 1. Surveillance of North Korea’s Citizens............................................................53 2. Investigation and Detention...........................................................................57 3. The Role of Internal Security Agencies in Trials..............................................63 4. The Role of the Internal Security Agencies in Prisons.....................................76 Part III: History of the Internal Security Apparatus............................................85 Formative Years (1945 and 1950)......................................................................85 Purging the Enemies of the State (1950s and 1960s).........................................96 Kimilsungism and the Monolithic Guidance System (1970–1980)...................109 Kim Jong-il as Heir Apparent (1980–1994).....................................................117 Intrigue Following Kim Il-sung’s Death (1994–1998)......................................126 Kim Jong-il Regime..........................................................................................131 Laying the Groundwork for Kim Jong-un’s Succession.....................................146 Kim Jong-un Regime........................................................................................156 Conclusion...........................................................................................................162 Appendix I: Biographies of Key Internal Security Officials...................................164 Appendix II: An Example of a North Korean Ministry of People’s Security Decree.180 Appendix III: An Example of a North Korean Arrest Warrant..............................182 1 Committee for Human Rights in North Korea ABOUT THE COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN NORTH KOREA In October of 2001, a distinguished group of foreign policy and human rights specialists launched the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) to promote human rights in that country. HRNK seeks to raise awareness and to publish well-documented research that focuses international attention on North Korean human rights conditions, which have been so closed off from the rest of the world. The Committee’s studies have established its reputation and leading role in the growing international network of organizations committed to promoting reform and transition in North Korea. The Committee’s reports have addressed many of the fundamental human rights issues in North Korea. Reports published by the Committee have included: • Hidden Gulag First Edition: Exposing North Korea’s Prison Camps (by David Hawk, 2003) • Hunger and Human Rights: The Politics of Famine in North Korea(by Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland, 2005) • The North Korean Refugee Crisis: Human Rights and International Response (by Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland, 2006) • Failure to Protect: A Call for the UN Security Council to Act in North Korea (published with DLA Piper LLP, 2006) 2 Ken E. Gause • Legal Strategies for Protecting Human Rights in North Korea (published with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Florn LLP, 2007) • Failure to Protect: The Ongoing Challenge of North Korea(published with DLA Piper LLP, 2008) • Lives for Sale: Personal Accounts of Women Fleeing North Korea to China (by Lee Hae-young, 2009) • After Kim Jong-il: Can We Hope for Better Human Rights Protection? (by Kim Kwang-jin, 2009) • Taken! North Korea’s Criminal Abduction of Citizens of Other Countries (by Yoshi Yamamoto, 2011) • North Korea after Kim Jong-il: Can We Hope for Better Human Rights Protection? (by Kim Kwang-jin, 2011) • Hidden Gulag Second Edition: The Lives and Voices of “Those Who Are Sent to the Mountains” (by David Hawk, 2012) • Marked for Life: Songbun, North Korea’s Social Classification System (by Robert Collins, 2012) 3 Committee for Human Rights in North Korea ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ken E. Gause is the director of the International Affairs Group at CNA, a non-profit research organization located in Alexandria, VA. He also oversees the Foreign Leadership Studies Program. For the past two decades, his area of particular focus has been the leaderships of countries including North Korea, China, Iran, Syria, and Russia. Mr. Gause’s work in this area dates back to the early 1980s with his work on the Soviet Union for the U.S. government. He has produced organizational studies on the leadership institu- tions associated with the Russian and North Korean ballistic missile programs; and an assessment of how North Korea develops its military doctrine. He has published numerous articles on leadership structures for such publications as Jane’s Intelligence Review, RUSI’s China Military Update, and the Korean Journal for Defense Analysis. In addition to his CNA work, Mr. Gause has published widely on the North Korean leadership. In 2006, the Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute published his book, North Korean Civil-Military Trends: Military-First Politics to a Point. He is also the author of North Korea Under Kim Chong-il: Power, Politics, and Prospects for Change, which was published by Praeger in 2011. His recent research interests include: North Korean succession politics; the North Korean police state; and North Korean civil-military relations. 4 Ken E. Gause PREFACE Coercion, Control, Surveillance, and Punishment lifts the curtain on North Korea’s three main security agencies—the State Security Department, the Ministry of Public Security,