Ethnic Chinese ordered to mourn for Kim Il

By Yi Whan-woo

North Korea has ordered ethnic Chinese citizens of the country to join a memorial service for its founding leader Kim Il-sung to mark the 24th anniversary of his death on July 8, according to sources familiar with Pyongyang.

The sources said last week the mourning period lasts throughout July and that provincial authorities are competing to hold a better ceremony than other provinces.

"There has been a directive order for ethnic Chinese in North Korea to participate," a source in North Hamgyong Province told Radio Free Asia. "The ethnic Chinese committee in the province asked its members to join the memorial service after informing them about it in June."

A source in Pyongyang said the region's respective committee members are asked to visit a Kim Il-sung statue in the city and lay flowers.

They are required to pay for their own transportation and offerings.

"The ethnic Chinese committee is burdening the ethnic Chinese in North Korea with requests for money for flowers to lay at the statue and for the ceremony preparations," the source said. "The state security department is tightly controlling and monitoring the ethnic Chinese so they know they must respect and follow the authorities. If they don't actively participate in the political events, the state security department will give them a hard time getting a visa to visit China, and they will face financial difficulties."

Another source said Chinese Koreans who are currently on business trips to China were ordered to return to join the memorial activities and that those who fail to do so would have to pay a large fine.

The source added this was the first time they had been threatened with fines if they fail to follow the order.

"Ethnic Chinese who are in China for business, with visas valid for three months, are returning to North Korea for the memorial ceremony," it said. "If they don't attend the memorial ceremony, they have to pay a 2,000 yuan ($300) penalty, so they are forced to just leave their jobs at places such as restaurants or construction sites in China and return home."