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Small pockets of unrest are appearing in North Korea as the repressive regime staggers under international sanctions and the fallout from a botched currency reform, sources say. On Feb. 14, two days before leader Kim Jong-il's birthday, scores of people in Jongju, Yongchon and Sonchon in North Pyongan Province caused a commotion, shouting, "Give us fire [electricity] and rice! "
A North Korean source said people fashioned makeshift megaphones out of newspapers and shouted, "We can't live! Give us fire! Give us rice!" "At first, there were only one or two people, but as time went by more and more came out of their houses and joined in the shouting," the source added.
"When such an incident took place in the past, people used to report their neighbors to the security forces, but now they're covering for each other," the source said.
Hundreds of people clashed with security forces in the North Korean town of Sinuiju on the border with China on Friday, a source in the Stalinist country said Wednesday.
The military was deployed to quell the demonstration, leaving some protesters wounded.
The source said police officers cracking down on traders in a market in Sinuiju after the public holidays marking leader Kim Jong-il's birthday beat one of them unconscious. The victim's family protested and many other traders went along to support them.
When it looked as though other people might join the traders, security agents and military troops moved in. Rumor has it that four or five people were killed in the resulting clashes, but no details of civilian casualties are known.
The outside world is learning about the latest news from North Korea with unprecedented speed these days. Information that used to be impossible to obtain, about such things as living conditions or protests, is becoming available through photos and video clips, while South Korean pop music and TV dramas are spreading quickly throughout North Korea.
The most common conduit is North Korean traders who frequently travel to China. They store the pictures and videos on USB memory sticks and bring them out with them. "In February last year we developed 'stealth' USBs and distributed hundreds of them in the North," said Kim Heung-kwang of defector group North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity.
The North Korean Army's Guard Command, a military unit tasked with protecting leader Kim Jong-il, is hiding scores of tanks in Pyongyang to quell any popular uprising, Radio Free Asia claimed Tuesday.
Originally posted by ReRun
I can't help but feel that all of these revolts are being orchestrated by those behind the scenes who pull the puppet strings worldwide .
I get the sneaky suspicion that the actual directors of these current events are steering all of this in accordance with a predetermined agenda .
My question is , why NOW ?