Eight employees of Pyongyang’s Kwangbok – Top product development and exchange company were arrested at the end of July by the Domestic Counterintelligence Bureau of the Ministry of State Security, Daily NK learned.

An anonymous source in Pyongyang recently told Daily NK that the researchers were arrested on July 28 and their family members, including parents and siblings, were taken away in early August.

The source said a local official from the Ministry of State Security said employees had gathered to watch banned videos and read banned books from abroad while staying in the office for long hours.

Another state security official told the source that the researchers were caught making slanderous insinuations about the bloodline of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un after watching foreign videos.

Rumor has it that the arrests came after the researchers were overheard by other employees whispering that Kim Jong Un was the child of a Korean-Japanese woman and wondering which of Kim Jong Il’s concubines gave birth to him. These rumors are being strictly suppressed by company management, the source said.

“The company’s fundamental role is to interact with the outside world, and this task is becoming increasingly important as technological cooperation with the international community has increased in recent years. However, the Ministry of State Security did not hesitate to make the arrests over alleged ideological issues.”

Since the researchers often had contact with the outside world in their work, they were accused of revealing state secrets or engaging in anti-state activities, which led the authorities to arrest them on the spot.

Many are concerned about the consequences of the arrests

Other employees at the company are worried about being affected by the arrests and some have even resigned voluntarily, the source said.

“Since the arrests, all employees have been carefully weighing their words and actions. No one speaks openly about what happened, but everyone knows what happened.”

Neighbors of the arrested researchers – who know that both the researchers and their families have been arrested – are also worried about what might happen.

“I have never seen an entire family disappear in the middle of the night without explanation. This may be Pyongyang, but no one is safe,” a neighbor said, according to the source.

“This incident is a chilling reminder to Pyongyang citizens of how closely the state monitors and controls them,” the source said. “People say investigators are being framed by the ministry, which forces people to confess to crimes they never committed and where even the dead tell stories.”