North Korean users of foreign messenger applications such as

Kakao Talk, Line, and WeChat will be arrested on the spot on suspicion of

espionage, according to a new order handed down from the authorities. Sources inside the country interpret the move as Kim Jong Un’s aggressive reaction to the capability of Chinese

cellphones to facilitate the import and export of information into the isolated

country.

As recently reported by Daily NK , the North Korean

authorities have ramped up efforts to label Chinese cellphone users as traitors

and pursuing strict punishments against them. To this end, North Korean authorities doubled down on the use of

signal detectors to trace illicit international calls and zero in on the

location of foreign phone users.

However, the messenger apps allow users to circumvent

detection by this equipment, prompting the regime to respond with new

threats specifically targeting users of these communication applications.

“A measure has been enacted that orders the immediate arrest

of ‘traitorous’ residents who use foreign messenger applications. The regime

further threatened that those caught will not be offered clemency under any

condition,” a source in Ryanggang Province told Daily NK on June 2.

“Offenders who are apprehended will be processed according

to the discretion of the arresting agency– i.e. the State Security Department or

the Ministry of People’s Security. Those taken in will be charged with

espionage associating with the enemy and dispatched to a political prison

camp.”

According to the source, the regime first began showing

interest in foreign messenger apps in May 2014. At the time, residents who

continuously used Chinese cellphones were arrested, and through the course of

the investigation process, the authorities discovered that information was

being sent back and forth through apps such as the South Korean texting service

Kakao Talk.

“At that time, the authorities decided to define such

activity as espionage and handed down an order to strictly punish offenders,”

he said.

The crackdown on messenger services therefore strengthened

from that moment on. The South Korean service Line and the Chinese service

WeChat also became targets of surveillance at that point.

“These days, Line and Kakao Talk are explicitly mentioned in

lectures [routinely delivered to residents by the authorities]. That’s how

serious the crackdown has become,” a separate source in Ryanggang Province said.