N. Korean taxi drivers spy on foreign customers: report
A man woman catches a taxi in North Korea’s capital Pyongyang. / Courtesy of Twitter
By Eom Da-sol
North Korean taxi drivers are reporting on foreign customers for the government, according to the U.S.’s Radio Free Asia (RFA).
“The drivers remember where their foreign customers’ destinations are and report them daily,” a Chinese businessman, who frequently visits Rason city, told RFA Tuesday.
“I used to enjoy the talk and ask a few things that I am curious about of the nation to the taxi drivers.
“It was a big surprise to know that taxi drivers monitor foreigners in North Korea.”
Allegedly, these North Korean “spies” are active outside Pyongyang, where guides do not follow foreign visitors like Rason.
Another Chinese source told RFA said: “Guides warn us not to talk much to taxi drivers, and also they do not talk to them.
I guess it is because both of their roles are to monitor and report to the government.”
RFA said “contrary to the nation’s plan to boost foreign visitors, it has intensified the level of monitoring on them.”
After the state’s “200-day battle” call in June last year, the number of taxi drivers in North Korea increased because of the job’s ease.
The 200-day battle is a state-run economic plan requiring voluntary labor from citizens.