Check one of the world’s tightest security blankets: "not even an ant can pass through
Naijawapenews.blogspot.com
Apr 27, 2018 12:59 PM
Men in sharp suits and matching blue and white striped ties fanned out ahead of and
around Kim as he approached the Military Demarcation Line for a historic handshake with
his Southern counterpart Moon Jae-in.
Some of the men had bulging pockets. All sported red North Korean lapel badges
and the curly-wired earpieces beloved of the US Secret Service.
As the leader left after the morning session of talks, a dozen of them were given a
pre-lunch work-out, jogging alongside and behind Kim’s official car to form a
human shield, ties flapping as they ran.
North Korea is one of the world’s most tightly-controlled societies, but even so
security for its leader is iron-clad.
Foreigners attending any event where Kim will be present must go through hours
of security procedures beforehand, and surrender all electronics, including phones.
The Guard Command, the military unit tasked with ensuring the safety of the
leadership, is an elite institution close to the centre of North Korean power — it
provides the centrepiece display of the annual kimjongilia and kimilsungia flower
festivals in Pyongyang to honour Kim’s father and grandfather.
Ri Yong Guk, a defector from the North who served on a security detail for Kim Jong
Il, wrote in a 2013 memoir that as many as six different layers of security guards
protected the leader on trips to the countryside to inspect military units, plants or
farms.
“It is one of the world’s tightest security blankets through which even a single ant
would find it hard to go,” he wrote.
The arrangements for the current leader are reportedly even tighter, and during a
military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the foundation of its regular
armed forces in February, Pyongyang paraded three kinds of security units
dedicated to protecting Kim’s life. Kim was repeatedly seen accompanied by a stout
military general in uniform with a number holstered gun.
The protection afforded to the Kim family was also on display when the leader’s
sister Kim Yo Jong visited the South for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics,
accompanied by tall bodyguards with crew cuts, sunglasses and earpieces.
‘Scariest place on Earth’
Former US president Bill Clinton once described the Demilitarized Zone that
divides the peninsula and where Friday’s summit was being held as “the scariest
place on Earth”. Despite its name, the DMZ is among the most heavily fortified
areas on the planet.
Around 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of the South Korean capital Seoul, the four-
kilometre-wide space stretches for 250 kilometres across Korea and bristles with
electric fences, minefields and anti-tank barriers.
At the joint security area at Panmunjom the two sides, technically still at war, come
face-to-face, with stern South Korean guards - also chosen for their height and
looks - standing stock still only metres from the North Korean positions.
Soldiers are permitted to carry only sidearms in the area, but it is an open secret
that both sides have larger weapons stashed nearby for use in case of emergencies.
In November a North Korean soldier defected under a hail of automatic rifle fire
from his comrades.
Back in 1984, a 22-year-old Soviet tourist bolted from North to South at
Panmunjom, triggering a gun battle in which three pursuing North Korean
soldiers were killed, along with a Southern trooper, although defector Vasily
Matuzok was unharmed.
