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Imagine that you are a North Korean ― well, let's say it just happened that you were born in that very peculiar country.
It is late evening, almost midnight, and you are sitting with your family when suddenly somebody knocks on the door. The loud, demanding sound leaves one with no doubt: these are persons of authority who have decided to visit your humble dwelling.
Most readers would expect that the average North Korean would have the fear of death strike them, dreading impending imprisonment or death. For most North Koreans, though, this is not the case; rather it is probably just another household check (sukbakgeomyeol in Korean). This is a recurrent procedure that the average North Korean household endures near enough every month.
Household checks are conducted by teams that usually include one or two police officer as well as the head of the local "people's group." Such groups usually include all the inhabitants of a block or a multi-story apartment building ― between 20 and 40 families. Some personnel from the military police are often part of the team, and someone from the security police might be present occasionally.
The household check of a given people's group unit usually starts around 11 p.m. and continues until 2 a.m. There are some measures taken to ensure that no one can secretly make an escape from a neighborhood when the check begins. For instance, in multi-story buildings they usually put a sentry to the staircase, and in a block a sentry usually guards alleyways in order to stop people from escaping.
The checks are largely designed to stop people from breaking the regulations that make travel in North Korea so restrictive. In fact, one needs a permit just to travel outside one's own city/county, and special permits are required to travel to the borderland areas or Pyongyang. A North Korean child cannot even have a sleepover at his/her friend's or relative's house without first going to the local "people's group" head and registering themselves as an overnight visitor.
Of course, such regulations are bound to be violated. Relatives may go and see their families in other places even without permit ― especially now that it is all too easy to bribe bus drivers or ticket inspectors on trains to let people aboard without the requisite permits. And let us not forget that sex exists in North Korea too, and lovers will probably spend nights together without going so far as to advertise this fact to the authorities.
During the household check, the inspection team makes a quick search of the house to look in the places where an unregistered person can hide. In the event of the discovery of such a person, an investigation follows. The guest as well as host family often faces fines or even a brief period of incarceration.
At the same time, the work place of the unregistered visitor is to be notified as well ― a serious sanction for a woman who is discovered at her lover's house at midnight (North Korean sexual mores have become more relaxed recently but still remain rather patriarchic).
The presence of the military police is necessary because common police cannot arrest military personnel. During a check without a member of the military police on hand, a team must let an unregistered visitor who is a soldier go without sanction.
The inspection team also serves two other purposes: they have to check registered radio sets and also DVD players.
Since the 1960s it has been illegal in North Korea to possess a tunable radio set ― North Koreans could not use their wireless to listen to foreign broadcasts. However, all radios could be made tunable by a skilled technician, so all radio sets are sealed and these seals are also checked by the inspection teams.
Of late, inspection teams have also begun to go through video tapes and DVDs that they encounter in households. Movies from "imperialist countries" (like the U.S.) and their "stooges" (i.e. South Korea) are banned in the North. If such contraband is discovered, it may lead to serious trouble for the owner.
The last two decades of North Korean history has been marked by a considerable relaxation of regulations, but it seems that the notorious household checks have not changed as a result this general relaxation.
Therefore, if you are a North Korean, you have to open your door when it is the authorities at the door, and invite in the waiting police officers ― you should not expect a search warrant to come with them.
Prof. Andrei Lankov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and now teaches at Kookmin University in Seoul. You can reach him at anlankov@yahoo.com.
