By Yi Whan-woo
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is avoiding visiting flood-hit areas in the country’s northeast, concerned of possible attacks against him using the hundreds of arms and ammunitions that were swept away from an armory during the flood, sources said, Friday.
The sources from North Hamgyong Province said Kim is not likely to go there until the military retrieves all the arms and ammunitions that went missing.
Over 500 people either died or went missing and another 140,000 people were left homeless after Typhoon Linorock hit the province in early September. The survivors have been angry about their regime’s lack of relief efforts even though it had enough cash to carry out its fifth nuclear test on Sept. 9, according to the sources.
“The military is clueless about where to find the rifles and ammunition that are believed be underwater or are somewhere else,” a source said.
“In this climate, Kim is so concerned about terrorist attacks and assassination attempts in case the weapons fell into the hands of flood victims. It is rumored that the tyrant will visit the province only if his security is guaranteed.”
The sources said the young tyrant has previously scrapped plans to attend any scheduled events if even “a piece of weapon” was reported missing in the events’ host cities.
“The situation in North Hamgyong Province is much worse, and it is easy to imagine why Kim is not showing up there,” a source said.
Soldiers and civilians, including students, have been mobilized to retrieve the arms and ammunition. Some of them have explicitly made complaints about being treated like “cannon fodder.”
“The high-ranking officers are only interested in making sure that the lost items from the armory are back in place although there are still hundreds of dead bodies that need to be recovered,” a source said.
“Some people are grumbling that their lives are worth less than a bullet and that they will certainly be forced to die as cannon fodder when a war breaks out.”
Meanwhile, An Chan-il, a defector-turned-researcher at the World Institute for North Korea Studies in Seoul, speculated that Kim may consider visiting the province if the relief program is completed.
“It makes sense to say Kim is not visiting there owing to safety concerns. But it makes more sense to say Kim will wait until the devastated region has fully recovered so that he can stress his ‘love for the people.’”
Following the fifth nuclear test, Kim visited a farm run by the military and then an industrial plant on Sept. 13 and 15, respectively.
His confidants are not encouraging him to visit the flood-devastated regions owing to fears that the scene may offend the unpredictable tyrant and consequently, prompt him to purge them.
An average of 30 people have been publicly executed every year since Kim took power in December 2011. Many of them were killed for petty reasons, including then Defense Minister Hyon Yong-chol, who was executed by anti-aircraft fire for snoozing in front of Kim at a meeting.