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| The purpose of this order is to ascertain the origin of vehicles smuggled into North Korea across the border, while also bringing to light illegal acts such as forging government documents related to vehicle registration. North Korean Officers checking vehicles at a checkpoint. (Photo by=Daily NK) |
[아시아뉴스통신=레악카나 기자] North Korea has recently begun to crack down on people who have illegally registered their vehicles, Daily NK has learned. “In line with the increasing number of North Koreans who own private vehicles, the government issued an order on June 12 related to strengthening controls over such vehicles,” a source from North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on July 1.
The source said there’s an increase in the number of merchants who illegally register privately-owned vehicles at an organization or businesses and earn money through their vehicles as a form of “Aug. 3 earnings” (the practice of paying a certain amount of money to an organization or business in order to engage in unofficial economic activity elsewhere). North Korean authorities have labeled this practice “an unusual phenomenon that does not align with socialism” and stressed the need to come up with urgent measures to address the situation, the source noted.
The authorities are demanding detailed investigations into how individuals came to acquire their vehicles and their motives. This is also to check the origin of vehicles. “North Koreans earning money through privately-owned vehicles are complaining about the government making their lives more difficult after all the trouble they went through to buy a car,” the source added.
