Families of North Korean defectors are turning remittance brokers away at the door in 2026, refusing cash from relatives abroad and threatening to report the couriers to state security. Fear of punishment and suspicion that some brokers work as informants are pushing these families to give up money they badly need ahead of winter.
In early October, a remittance broker from Hoeryong, North Hamgyong province, traveled to another region to deliver money to a defector’s family, a source in the province told Daily NK on Thursday. The family refused to take the cash and drove the broker away from the doorstep.
“Defector families have turned down money before, but they usually just told the broker to go back,” the source said. “Lately, though, they drive brokers away by threatening to report them to the National Intelligence Agency.”
The National Intelligence Agency, formerly the Ministry of State Security, is North Korea’s secret police and hunts down espionage, defections and illicit contact with the outside world. The Kim Jong Un regime has steadily tightened surveillance and crackdowns along the China border, where most remittances enter the country.
Remittance brokers move money from defectors in South Korea and elsewhere into North Korea through informal networks that run via China. Sanctions and state controls leave no legal channel for these transfers, and each broker along the chain takes a share of the money.
A broker reported to the authorities outside his home area faces arrest and detention, followed by a transfer back to his hometown for further investigation. Faced with that risk, brokers have little choice but to turn around and head home empty-handed.
A failed delivery also costs brokers their commission and the price of a round trip to another region. Brokers earn their cut only after they send the sender a voice or video recording showing that the family received the cash. When a family refuses the money, the broker is left with nothing but travel expenses.
Why defector families are turning away remittance brokers
A similar incident took place earlier this month in Onsong county, a North Hamgyong province town on the Tumen River border with China. When a broker named the sender and tried to hand over the money, the family refused outright.
“We don’t take that kind of money,” a family member told the broker, according to the source. When the broker tried again, the family member started dialing a number and threatened to report him, and the broker hurried off without another word.
Fear of punishment for accepting money lies at the heart of the refusals. Suspicion is also spreading among defector families that some brokers double as informants for the intelligence services. In past cases, agents burst into homes right after a broker delivered money, seized the cash and punished the family that received it.
Agents have also warned defector families that they will face punishment if they fail to report a broker’s visit immediately, the source said. “Defector families were always under surveillance, but it has become far more intense recently,” the source said. “Rather than getting summoned to the security agency and punished for not reporting, they choose not to take the money at all.”
The refusals are especially common among families the agency has questioned in the past, according to the source. “A family that has faced an investigation over remittances even once can’t easily trust a broker,” the source said. “Their mindset is that they would rather go hungry than get hauled in for interrogation or lose the money.”
“Many relatives abroad send money ahead of winter, assuming families will need it for firewood and other cold-weather preparations, yet the families themselves are turning it down,” the source added. “They need money more than ever to get through the winter, but fear of trouble is leading them to give up support they need right now.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
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