North Korea has directed officials to revise documents relating to families split between North and South Korea and mandated ideological training for these families, following recent constitutional changes that officially designate South Korea as a hostile state.
The directive, issued by the Central Committee’s Organization and Guidance Department on Nov. 11, requires South Hamgyong province to complete document revisions and conduct training sessions by year’s end, according to a source in the province recently.
These orders appear to confirm fears that North Korea’s shift to the “two hostile states” narrative and its elimination of concepts about reunification and one Korean nation would have a negative impact on inter-Korean humanitarian initiatives such as holding reunions for split families.
According to the source, the order to revise documents about the divided families means classifying members of the divided families in South Korea as figures from a hostile state that North Koreans should be on their guard for and removing personal information from divided family documents that are managed by state security organizations in North Korea.
These orders are designed to cement the view that South and North Korea are not two halves of a single nation but two hostile states and to completely halt any inter-Korean exchange or contact about split families.
Regime pressures divided families to reject Southern kin
In response, South Hamgyong province plans to have organization departments and state security bureaus at municipal and county party committees secretly carry out the Central Committee’s orders and to provide divided family members in North Korea with ideological training to disabuse them of any fantasies they may have about the South.
“The provincial party committee and the provincial state security bureau are planning to hold training sessions by the end of the year at which divided family members in the province will be urged to disown family members in South Korea and burn any related keepsakes. Individual meetings and ideological training sessions with divided family members are likely to be held by the end of the month,” the source said.
“The provincial state security bureau intends to bring in each (divided family member) for individual meetings at which they will be asked to submit information about any contact they have had with family members in South Korea and to cooperate with revision of the documents. Family members will also be given extra ideological training to help them disown their South Korean families and give up their fantasies about the hostile state,” the source said.
“In an effort to hold his kingdom together, Kim Jong Un is trying to split the Korean nation into incompatible parts, like oil and water. But that’s likely to arouse logical objections even inside North Korea,” said Kim Yeong-su, director of the Institute of North Korean Studies.
“North Korea’s position that South and North Korea are two hostile states would imply that defectors and divided family members are foreigners. That’s the logical implication of placing so much stress on border closures and hostile relations. If the Kim regime keeps making these claims, it will ultimately confront criticism, suspicions and resentment,” Kim added.
Daily NK works with a network of sources in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. For security reasons, their identities remain anonymous.
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