By Kim Young-jin
Seoul said Thursday it has observed no signs of a popular uprising in North Korea amid reports of unrest in the isolated state.
The assessment by the Ministry of Unification came after a local daily reported that hundreds of protesters had clashed with authorities in the town of Sinuiju, increasing speculation over whether the uprisings rocking the Arab world could reach the North.
“We do not see a high possibility or signals of any kind of change or moves in North Korea at this time,” a Unification Ministry representative said, adding the ministry could not confirm the reported protest.
The Chosun Ilbo quoted North Korean sources as saying that military forces quickly quelled the demonstration, wounding some protesters. Five were rumored to have been killed, the report said.
The incident apparently started when police officers cracking down on market activity beat a trader unconscious. The victim’s family members and supporters then began to protest.
The report said security agents and military forces moved in when the activity appeared to be gaining momentum and remained on high alert after the incident.
The source said that discontent had been growing in the area over the regime’s renewed interference in the markets and reported failure to give out extra rations on leader Kim Jong-il’s birthday, which fell last week.
The impoverished North reportedly began allowing some market activity after previous crackdowns failed.
The conservative daily reported earlier that smaller protests demanding food and electricity had broken out in North Pyeongan Province on Feb. 14, two days before Kim’s birthday.
Some analysts have said major unrest in the North is unlikely, citing the Kim Jong-il regime’s iron-fisted rule of the country that blocks citizen access to most outside sources of information.
Unification Minister Hyun In-taek said in a recent interview that the Kim regime is likely to take preventative measures against possible unrest in the wake of the so-called “Jasmine Revolution” sweeping the Middle East.
If confirmed, the incidents would follow reported discontent after Pyongyang’s currency revaluation in 2009 that wiped out savings and sent prices of rice and other goods soaring.
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