Defectors to be shot

SEOUL - NORTH Korean troops are under orders to shoot unauthorised border-crossers to prevent mass defections following a shock currency revaluation which wiped out savings, a report said on Monday.

South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper said the orders were given to forestall any mass flight to China by middle-class North Koreans who had seen their assets vanish.

The changeover to a new currency ended on Sunday but public discontent and confusion remain unabated, Seoul-based Internet newspaper DailyNK said.

Citizens could exchange old won banknotes for new ones at the rate of 100 to one. But restrictions were imposed on the total sum that could be swapped, leading many to fear the loss of their savings.

Chosun said security authorities have gone on emergency alert after old bills carrying the image of late president Kim Il Sung were found torn or damaged on piles of garbage in several cities. Graffiti and leaflets criticising current leader Kim Jong Il have also started to appear, it said.

Analysts say the revaluation is aimed at clamping down on the fledgling free-market economy and tightening the regime's grip. A North Korean central bank official has himself been quoted as saying the aim is to weaken the role of free markets and strengthen the socialist system. -- AFP