North Korea while in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, following the breakdown in negotiations between the US and North Korea in Hanoi. North Korean authorities are harshly reasserting control over North Korean officials and business people in China in response."There are a lot more North Koreans in China defecting than usual," said a source close to North Korean affairs located in China. "The authorities are responding by heightening their monitoring of North Koreans in China."
The source also added that North Korean authorities are conducting harsh levels of control over North Korean officials working in China’s major cities like Shenyang ‐ where the recent defection incident took place ‐ Beijing, Yanji, and Dandong.
"High-level officials that manage North Korean officials in China are receiving reports about where their underlings are and who they are meeting," said the source. "Officials in China are required to call their managers at specific times and confirm that they are working where they should be."
The source also reported that some managers are requiring not only that officials report their whereabouts. They also conduct "two-step" verification of their whereabouts by calling their underlings’ families. Managers are conducting harsh levels of monitoring of their employees because they know that the responsibility for any defection that occurs within their ranks will come back to them.