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National Intelligence Service Director Park Jie-won (right) speaks with NIS Deputy Director Kim Hyeong-jung during a parliamentary audit of the agency on Thursday. (Yonhap News)

Train services between the North Korean city of Sinuiju and Dandong in China may resume as soon as November after being halted for over a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) revealed at a parliamentary briefing.

The NIS also shared that Kim Jong-un had lost approximately 20 kilograms, or around 44 pounds, but has no apparent health issues while also reporting on the use of a new term: “Kim Jong-unism.”

On Thursday, the National Assembly Intelligence Committee received a briefing on North Korea during a closed-door parliamentary session conducted at the National Intelligence Service offices in Seoul.

“The train service between Sinuiju and Dandong may restart in November,” said Ha Tae-kyung, a People Power Party lawmaker serving as executive secretary of the Intelligence Committee. “Plans to resume the train services are being discussed among China and Russia,” he said.

In addition, the NIS reported that the number of ships bringing in emergency supplies has increased since July, and some medical supplies that had been in quarantine have also been allowed in since August.

“Since supplies coming in [from China] have had to be held in quarantine in North Korea, the goods have started to pile up, which has resulted in the only North Korea-China trade route and the largest trading port becoming over-saturated,” Ha said. “There are signs pointing to [North Korea] preparing for the opening of ports in Ryongchon in North Pyongan Province,” he added.

It seems that the border blockade between North Korea and China is becoming increasingly impossible to sustain given the decline in trade and the worsening domestic economy in North Korea. “As of this September, North Korea-China trade amounted to US$185 million, down one-third from the previous year,” Ha said, while adding that the trade volume in September was only 29% compared to the same period in 2019.

“High prices remain unchanged and the management of the economy is also facing obstacles,” Ha added.

The NIS also reported that North Korea’s central bank is now printing temporary currency due to a shortage of paper and special ink caused by a drop in imports. In addition, water-borne infectious diseases such as typhoid are spreading due to a shortage of essential medicines and disinfectants. Moreover, as food shortages continue, Kim Jong-un reportedly compared the situation to “treading on thin ice” while urging the people to secure every last grain available and telling all those who are eating to take part in farming and agricultural efforts.

The NIS also shared new details about Kim’s health, saying that the North Korean leader has no health problems. The agency also pointed out that, 10 years into the rule of Kim Jong-un, portraits of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il have disappeared from the background of some party conference halls while the term “Kim Jong-unism” has begun to be used. According to the NIS, this signals a “movement to establish an independent ideological system.” In addition, Kim Yo-jong, Kim Jong-un’s younger sister, was appointed as a member of the State Affairs Commission last month. “She was bestowed an official position commensurate with her status,” the NIS reported.

New details about the state of North Korea’s nuclear weapons development were also provided. It was recently discovered that operations of the 5-megawatt nuclear reactor at Yongbyon, which was shut down at the end of 2018, have been restarted. Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Byung-kee said, “The Yongbyon reprocessing facility was operational from February to July in the first half of this year, and there is a possibility that the reprocessing of fuel rods took place during this period.”

“By securing additional plutonium, [the NIS] believes this could be a stepping stone to strengthen [North Korea’s] nuclear capabilities, highlighting the strategic importance of the Yongbyon facility,” Kim added.

Meanwhile, National Intelligence Service Director Park Jie-won, who has been implicated in the whistleblowing of the prosecutor services’ political meddling scandal, issued an apology to the public. According to lawmaker Ha, Park made the following statement: "Recently, my name has come up in the political arena, and, regardless of the reason, I feel remorseful, and I apologize to the people of Korea.”

By Seo Young-ji, staff reporter

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