Day: April 24, 2023

A military airstrike last week on a village in Myanmar’s northern Sagaing region where an earlier attack killed nearly 200 people was part of a bid to “destroy evidence,” a member of the armed opposition said Monday, as reports emerged that the latest bombing killed nearly 20 of the junta’s own troops.

The junta’s April 11 air raid on the opening ceremony of a public administration building in Kanbalu township’s Pa Zi Gyi village is believed to be one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in Myanmar since the February 2021 coup. The attack has drawn condemnation from across the globe.

On April 20, the military carried out a second airstrike on Pa Zi Gyi, although no civilian casualties were reported, as residents had fled the village following the earlier attack.

Ba La Gyi, the head of the anti-junta People’s Defense Force paramilitary group in Ma Lal sub-township, told RFA Burmese that he believes the military carried out the second airstrike to cover up the devastation and loss of life caused by the first one.

“I think they aimed to hide or destroy evidence that they killed innocent civilians in their first airstrike,” he said. “Since they haven’t been able to find either the civilian refugees or the PDF fighters, they bombed the village to set it on fire.”

During the April 11 attack, jets bombed and helicopters strafed the opening ceremony for a public administration building in the village. It was the latest example of the junta’s increased use of air power in their conflict with armed resistance groups amid falterning progress on the ground.

Witnesses have said that it was hard to tell how many people had died in the attack because the bodies were so badly mangled by the bombs and machine gun fire.

Ba La Gyi, who was near Pa Zi Gyi at the time of the follow-up attack on the morning of April 20, said two separate junta columns of around 100 troops each raided the village and “went through everything.”

“I believe they were looking for refugees [who might have returned to the village],” he said. “At about 2 p.m., they fired heavy artillery into the village from the southwest. They fired exactly 10 times … At 2:26 p.m, a jet fighter flew over and fired at the village after dropping a bomb.”

Military account disputed

Myanmar’s military confirmed in a statement that it had carried out a “precision” attack on Pa Zi Gyi on April 11 because members of the armed resistance had gathered there and “committed terrorist acts.” Junta Deputy Information Minister Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun also claimed that the large number of casualties was the result of a rebel weapons cache exploding during the operation.

But rescue workers have disputed that account. They say the attack on the site was deliberate and thorough, beginning with a jet fighter bombing run and followed by an Mi-35 helicopter strafing the area.

On Monday, Pa Zi Gyi resident Kyaw Tint accused the junta of making false reports about the airstrike.

“Since their attack drew major attention from the international community, the junta tried to cover up its brutality with false accusations that some weapons and ammunition depots exploded during the bombing,” he said. “That’s why they entered the village [on April 20] and I think they are going to fabricate evidence, saying they obtained proof of their accusations.”

Attempts to reach Zaw Min Tun for comment on claims that the second attack was part of a junta cover up went unanswered Monday.

But Thein Tun Oo, the executive director of the Thayninga Institute for Strategic Studies group, which is made up of former military officers, called the operations in Pa Zi Gyi “ordinary … from an anti-terrorism standpoint” and said they were ordered because the opening of a public administration building in the area was tantamount to a “declaration of autonomy.”

“No government of a country can accept a declaration of autonomy within its sovereign territory,” he said. “When you consider the matter of national law and security seriously, human rights and other issues are less important.”

Pyae Sone, a member of the Kanbalu PDF, said that the attacks are proof that the junta will not be moved by international pressure.

“It also shows that the junta is determined to oppress the people even more severely and brutally,” he said. “I also think the attacks aimed to destroy the evidence left from the first airstrike.”

Friendly fire incident

Meanwhile, reports emerged Monday that nearly 20 military troops were killed and more than 10 injured in last week’s follow-up airstrike on Pa Zi Gyi when a junta aircraft mistakenly bombed its own soldiers.

A resident of the village told RFA that a jet fighter dropped six bombs in the April 20 airstrike, hitting junta troops stationed nearby.

“This morning, at about 9:00 a.m., they were picked up by three civilian vehicles,” said the resident. “Seven injured junta soldiers were taken away. We got reports that they are being treated at a 100-bed hospital in Thabeikkyin township. I think they have buried the bodies of the dead junta soldiers near the village.”

The resident said that the junta’s 13th Shwebo Training Platoon, which is composed of nearly 200 soldiers, had been stationed near Pa Zi Gyi since April 19.

Other residents also reported military casualties in the latest airstrike and confirmed earlier reports that none of the village’s inhabitants were victims of the attack.

RFA has been unable to independently verify the claims.

Attempts by RFA to contact Aye Hlaing, the junta’s spokesman and Sagaing region social affairs minister, for comment on the incident went unanswered Monday.

Residents of Pa Zi Gyi said Monday that they have been unable to investigate the condition of the village amid the continued presence of junta troops in the area.

Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

Two more opposition party activists were assaulted over the weekend as they traveled in Phnom Penh – the latest in a series of similar attacks in recent months that members of the Candlelight Party insist are all politically motivated.

Thun Chantha, who has worked for the main opposition party for several years, was attacked during the day on Sunday by four assailants who surrounded him on their motorbikes, struck him several times with a metal baton and left him with bruises all over his body.

“They followed me along the road and crashed into my motorbike,” he said. “Then they pounced on me.” 

Another Candlelight Party activist, Thy Sokha, said her car was intentionally rammed into on Saturday night by an unknown assailant who drove a black 470-series Lexus.

Thy Sokha is widely known as “Peypeyly” on social media. She and her husband weren’t seriously injured, but the front right part of her car was completely damaged. The assailant wore a bodyguard uniform and ran toward a waiting car, she said. 

“If I was not lucky enough, I would not have a chance to do this livestream about this incident so that our people may know the truth. I am really horrified by this threat against my life,” she said just after the incident. 

‘Every repressive tool’

The Candlelight Party is expected to be the top competitor to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party in the July parliamentary elections. 

The CPP is stepping up its pressure on political opposition members in advance of the election, just as Prime Minister Hun Sen warned would happen during a speech in Kampong Cham province earlier this year, Human Rights Watch noted. 

“You have two options, first we could use the court,” Hun Sen said on Jan. 9. “Secondly, we can go to hit you at your home because you don’t listen. Which option do you prefer? The second? Don’t be rude.” 

There have been seven reported acts of violence that have targeted six opposition party members in recent months – not including the two attacks over the weekend, Human Rights Watch said in a statement on Monday. 

Attacks on four of the six activists had multiple similarities, the New York-based organization said.

“All four attacks were carried out by two men in dark clothes with dark motorcycle helmets riding a single motorbike, with the driver remaining on the bike while the passenger assaulted the victim,” the organization said. 

“In three attacks, the assailants used an extendable metal baton as a weapon. In two attacks, the victims could hear the attackers confirming the victims’ identity moments before they were assaulted. No money or valuables were stolen.”

All of the activists interviewed by Human Rights Watch said they believe they were targeted because of their work with the Candlelight Party, the organization said.

Human Rights Watch’s deputy Asia director, Phil Robertson, said Hun Sen is using “every repressive tool at his disposal” to rid the country of political opposition, including prison sentences on politically motivated charges.

“Foreign governments should send a clear public message that dismantling opposition parties and disqualifying, assaulting, and arresting their members before election day means that there won’t be any real election at all,” he said in the statement. 

‘Failure’ to bring justice

Katta Orn of the government-backed Human Rights Committee said the Human Rights Watch statement was politically targeted at the government. 

“It is customary for Human Rights Watch to state something baseless, without proper observations, data or information,” he told Radio Free Asia. “They disseminate the issues to the international community with an aim to put pressure on the royal government.” 

Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan, CPP spokesman Sok Ey San and National Police spokesman Chhay Kim Khoeun couldn’t be reached for comment on Monday.

Soeung Senkarona, spokesperson for the Cambodian rights group ADHOC, voiced concerns over the Cambodian government’s repeated failure to bring any perpetrators to justice in the attacks. 

“I am concerned that such failure by the Cambodian government to comply with its international obligations may bring further pressure from the international community,” he said.

Translated by Keo Sovannarith. Edited by Matt Reed.

A Japanese woman of Uyghur ethnicity and who was educated in the United States has been elected a member of the Japanese parliament — the first person of Uyghur heritage to run as a major party candidate in an election there.

Arfiya Eri, a 34-year-old member of the Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, was elected on Sunday to the lower house of the Japanese Diet to represent Chiba prefecture’s 5th district. She captured the seat previously held by Kentaro Sonoura, a former LDP lawmaker who resigned last December over a political funds scandal.

The World Uyghur Congress, or WUC, applauded the election of Eri, also known as Alfiya Hidetoshi, as the first Uyghur woman to be elected to any parliament, and the first Uyghur-Japanese politician to hold a seat in the Diet, or Japanese parliament. 

Eri beat six other candidates from Chiba to win the contentious election, receiving about 5,000 votes more than the candidate who came in second, said Sawut Memet, a standing committee member of the Japanese Uyghur Association, based in Tokyo. 

“This historic victory is significant for the Uyghur Japanese community, as well as the global Uyghur diaspora community,” the organization said in a statement issued Monday. “The WUC firmly believes that she will serve the interests of the Japanese citizens, and the country, at the same time raising the Uyghur issue in the Japanese Parliament and other high-level forums.” 

Eri’s election comes as Uyghur rights groups have called on the international community to take concrete action against China for committing severe rights abuses against the mostly Muslim group in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Japan’s government in recent years has expressed concern about human rights conditions in Xinjiang, where the Chinese government has detained Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in “re-education” camps, monitored them with intrusive digital surveillance technologies, subjected them to forced labor, and worse.

Japan’s Lower House adopted a resolution in February 2022, expressing concern over the human rights situation in China, including the plight of the Uyghurs, and called on Beijing to take measures to address the situation. 

That September, WUC President Dolkun Isa asked the Japanese parliament to declare that China’s abuse of the Uyghurs amounted to a genocide, following similar determinations of genocide and crimes against humanity by the U.S. State Department and several Western legislatures.

Her election has “tremendous positive implications for Uyghurs,” showing that they are not “terrorists” as China has made them out to be to justify its repressive policies in Xinjiang, Memet told RFA. 

Gives hope

Eri’s election also gives hope to second-generation Uyghurs living in exile and indicates that Uyghurs who embrace the election process can win, he said. 

“She created a good opportunity for the international community to better understand the Uyghur situation, added Memet. “There are many in Japan who are not aware of the Uyghurs. Through Arfiya’s election, many will have a good understanding.”

Eri hails from Kitakyushu in Fukuoka prefecture. Her family moved to Japan in the 1980s, and she became a Japanese citizen when she was 11 years old. Her father is a Uyghur engineer educated in Japan on a government scholarship, and her mother is Uzbek.

Eri, who speaks seven languages, graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and worked for the Bank of Japan and the United Nations in New York before her foray into politics.

James Millward, a professor at Georgetown’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, called Eri, a former student, “a brilliant young woman, full of ideas.”

“Even then, her promise was clear: Her term paper from the undergraduate survey class she took with me was published in a peer-reviewed journal,” he told Radio Free Asia. “It needed very little editing. The people of the fifth district of Chiba prefecture are lucky to have Ms. Eri as their representative in the Japanese Diet.”

Eri is also an alumna of the United States-Japan Foundation’s leadership program and was in the 2018-19 fellowship cohort.

“We are proud of Arfiya’s milestone victory, and the significance of her support from Japanese voters,” said Jacob Schlesinger, the organization’s president, in a statement. “She exemplifies the goals and aspirations of our foundation as we work to support a new generation of diverse and innovative leaders in both countries.” 

Translated by Alim Seytoff for RFA Uyghur. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster. 

Former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has made a surprise visit to Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw over the weekend and met with junta chief Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing to discuss the country’s political crisis, according to official media reports.

Ban, currently the deputy chair of The Elders group of retired world leaders, arrived with a delegation on Sunday evening and was greeted at the airport by junta Deputy Minister for Defense Major Gen. Aung Lin Dwe, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Kyaw Myo Htut and other officials, according to military-controlled broadcast channel MRTV.

He met with Min Aung Hlaing on Monday morning to “exchange views on the situation in Myanmar,” junta Deputy Information Minister Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun told reporters following the sit-down.

Ban’s arrival comes as the junta is planning to hold an election despite a nationwide conflict and widespread concerns that such a ballot will be neither free nor fair. In March, the junta dissolved the formerly ruling National League for Democracy – Aung San Suu Kyi’s party – and dozens of other political parties for failing to meet a registration deadline.

On Saturday afternoon, an anti-junta paramilitary group calling itself “For Yangon” shot dead Sai Kyaw Thu, the deputy director of the junta’s Election Commission, who was expected to be promoted to the position of general director.

An official with the group told RFA that Sai Kyaw Thu was killed for his part in disenfranchising the people of Myanmar and acting as a “false witness” in the junta’s prosecution of Suu Kyi and former President Win Myint.

“That’s why we eliminated him,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing security concerns. “[The leadership of the junta] might think that they are safe because they reside in Naypyidaw. But they must keep in mind that the day they return to Yangon will be the day they die.”

A video purportedly showing Sai Kyaw Thu’s assassination has been circulating on social media, although RFA was unable to independently confirm its authenticity. The junta’s Ministry of Information confirmed Sai Kyaw Thu’s death, saying he was shot and killed on his way back from taking his wife to a clinic in eastern Yangon’s South Okkalapa township.

‘Positive, friendly’

State media, meanwhile, described the tone of Ban’s meeting with senior junta officers as “positive, friendly, and [held in an] open manner,” without providing any further details.

Present at the meeting were junta Joint-Secretary Lieutenant Gen. Ye Win Oo, Defense Minister General Mya Tun Oo, Foreign Minister Than Swe and ex-ambassador of South Korea to Australia Kim Bong-hyun, it said.

Ban also held a separate meeting with former President Thein Sein, who led Myanmar’s quasi-civilian government from 2011 to 2016, according to Zaw Min Tun, although no details of the meeting were disclosed.

Sources close to the junta told RFA Burmese that Ban had been invited by the military regime.

Attempts by RFA to contact The Elders about Ban’s visit went unanswered on Monday.

However, Moe Zaw Oo, deputy foreign minister of Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government told RFA that Ban should engage with all stakeholders if he wants to help with the Myanmar issue.

“Visiting the junta at a time when it has been committing serious violent crimes is, in a way, recognizing its legitimacy,” he said. “He should not visit without knowing for sure whether his trip will benefit the people.”

Moe Zaw Oo said Ban is living in “a fantasy” if he thinks that the military will end violence in the country “just by hearing a sermon on peace.”

“You have to carefully consider how to stop the violence, how to pressure [the military], and how to coordinate with countries and individuals who can really implement that pressure,” he said.

Pro-democracy Activist Thinzar Shunlei Yi, a member of the civil society coalition Action Committee for Democracy Development, said in a tweet that “talking with [the junta] or democratic leaders alone won’t solve the issue.”

“We all must address the cessation of violence in a way that leads to justice and accountability,” he said.

‘Resolving problems’ with opposition

Political analyst Ye Htun said Monday it is likely the junta invited Ban to “resolve problems” between the military and the shadow National Unity Government, People’s Defense Force paramilitary group, and the country’s ethnic armed organizations.

“Indonesia [as the 2023 chair of ASEAN] is also handling the problems between the NUG, PDF, EAOs and the [junta],” he said. “But in order to achieve a significant result, I think, the regime invited Ban Ki-moon to seek his assistance.”

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, whose members include Myanmar and which operates largely by consensus, has been widely criticized for failing to take strong action against the junta.

The military has carried on with attacks amid nationwide turmoil in the two years since Min Aung Hlaing vowed to follow a five-point peace framework that ASEAN leaders agreed to during an April 2021 emergency summit in the aftermath of the Myanmar military’s Feb. 1, 2021, coup d’etat. Among its provisions, the five-point consensus called for an end to violence, dialogue with all parties and humanitarian assistance.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the coup, which provoked mass protests and armed resistance. More than 3,400 civilians have been killed by the military since then, according to Thailand’s Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (Burma).

Ye Tun said Ban may have first asked the junta to meet with jailed leader of the National League for Democracy Aung San Suu Kyi, who was sidelined as Myanmar’s State Counselor by the takeover.

Junta courts found the 78-year-old Suu Kyi, who was detained shortly after the coup, guilty of corruption charges and the violation of election and state secrets laws in December 2022. She faces a total of 33 years in jail for 19 cases, and is being held in solitary confinement at a prison in Naypyidaw. Suu Kyi’s supporters say the charges were politically motivated.

Ban’s visit was scheduled by The Elders and he was expected to depart Myanmar on Monday evening, the Associated Press reported, citing a South Korean Embassy official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The AP said Ban tried to make a diplomatic visit to Myanmar after the coup, aiming to de-escalate the conflict and foster dialogue, but was told by authorities that it was inconvenient at the time.

‘First mission’

For Yangon, the group that took responsibility for the killing of the Election Commission official, was formed in November 2021, a member told RFA, although it has been active under other names. He described it as “a group of young people who don’t accept the coup.”

“We saw and experienced the inhumane and brutal crackdowns by the terrorist junta while protesting and fighting in the streets during the coup, and decided to join the armed struggle,” he said.

The official called the assassination of Sai Kyaw Thu For Yangon’s “first mission,” adding that the group had spent nearly six months gathering intelligence in the plot.

Translated by Htin Aung Kyaw and Myo Min Aung. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

Authorities in China are carrying out extensive checks on passengers leaving the country, slapping travel bans at border checkpoints on individuals seen as ‘politically sensitive,’ according to rights activists.

While bans on nonessential travel featured heavily during the stringent lockdowns, mass quarantines and compulsory testing of the zero-COVID policy, which ended in December 2022 following nationwide protests, restrictions remain in place for many critics of the ruling Communist Party.

Border guards in the southern province of Guangdong, home to some of the highest-volume border crossings in China, have prevented a number of rights activists from leaving in recent weeks.

An activist who gave only the surname Liu for fear of being punished said he had been stopped by police at a checkpoint and prevented from boarding a flight to Malaysia via the former Portuguese-run city of Macau.

“They stopped me at security, took me to their office and interrogated me and searched me and my luggage,” Liu said. “Then they told me I wasn’t a suitable candidate to be allowed to leave the country.”

‘Endanger national security’

Liu said he only found out after trying to negotiate with the officials that his name appears on a blacklist of individuals banned from leaving China for reasons of “national security.”

“They had a record on the computer system saying I’m not allowed to leave the country,” he said. “They took me to their operations center and questioned me further.”

“Then they told the state security police back in my hometown, and let me go,” he said. “I asked them to give me an explanation, and they said … [letting me leave] could endanger national security or the national interest.”

A rights activist who gave only the surname Zhao said he knows of several people who have run into similar problems while trying to leave China in recent weeks.

“Several people have been stopped at the border and prevented from leaving,” Zhao said. “My local state security police called me and told me that … I wasn’t allowed to leave.”

“They said whether it was up to me if I wanted to apply for a passport, but being allowed to leave was another matter,” he said.

Even when border guards do let people leave China, it’s often only after they have submitted to a careful search of all of their luggage, and after paying fines in some cases.

And it seems that the searches and fines are being applied in both directions, according to a Hong Kong resident who gave only the surname Tseng.

“I was only carrying a handbag, and they still wanted to go through it,” Tseng said of a recent visit to mainland China via Shenzhen’s Futian Port.

“I saw another woman whose money was seized – she had brought cash, and the customs people were counting it,” she said. “[One person] had brought 100,000 yuan and was fined 20,000 yuan, because they were on a blacklist.”

‘Run’

In May 2022, Shanghai-based entrepreneurs predicted mass capital flight as a result of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s zero-COVID policy. 

The manufacturing sector hasn’t recovered despite the lifting of the restrictions, which prompted an exodus of middle-class Chinese in a phenomenon known as “run,” a play on a Chinese character that sounds a little like the English word by the same name.

The result has been a plethora of fresh security checks at borders, and restrictions on Chinese citizens leaving the country, Zeng said.

“The people who check the documents of people leaving China have been asking a lot more questions lately,” she said. “Some people say they’re going to Hong Kong, and then they ask if they plan to travel elsewhere after that, and what the purpose of the trip is, and ask for the relevant documents.”

Some rights activists are sidestepping such controls by crossing the border illegally in the southwestern province of Yunnan, walking into Laos and Thailand in the hope of traveling on to a third country afterwards.

A woman currently in Thailand who gave only the surname Guo said she never plans to go back to China.

“I want to tell the truth about the pandemic [in China] to the International Court of Justice in The Hague,” she said.

In some cases, the travel bans are imposed before people get to the border or immigration checks.

Passengers told Radio Free Asia in February that police are now calling up people who have booked flights to leave the country and interrogating them about where they are going and when they plan to be back.

Earlier this month, police in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang slapped a travel ban on veteran democracy activist Zhu Yufu, as he prepared to travel to Japan to visit his terminally ill sister.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

The buyer meets the go-between in a vacant lot downtown. Money is exchanged and delivered to the seller, who in turn hands over the goods. But this kind of shady deal isn’t related to the drug trade or corporate espionage. It’s just another day in the North Korean real estate business. 

Alarmed by the rise in such activity, the government is cracking down on private home sales this month, sources in the country told Radio Free Asia.

In North Korea, the government owns all property in principle, and it issues home-use permits that grant people the right to live in a house or an apartment for a specific period of time. 

According to previous RFA reports, home sales are possible if one bribes the right officials, and the country has even experimented with allowing real estate speculation. 

But authorities are now clamping down on real estate brokers, buyers and sellers ahead of spring, which is the peak season for people looking to change residences, sources say.

Because individual home ownership is technically illegal, brokers are said to be violating socialist policies and obscuring the foundations of the socialist system, a source in the northeastern province of North Hamgyong told RFA’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity to speak freely.

But she said that the recent crackdown is a deliberate attempt by authorities to catch the brokers in the act to extract more bribes from them.

In the capital Pyongyang, the moves come just as 10,000 new homes are about to hit the market, a source there told RFA on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

In 2021, the country’s leader Kim Jong Un unveiled an ambitious plan to build 10,000 new homes in the capital by the end of the year, and 50,000 by the end of 2025. Last week Kim attended a ceremony celebrating the completion of the latest batch of 10,000 such homes.

The Pyongyang resident said that most of these new homes will likely be sold using brokers, who usually take 5-7% of the sales price as commission.

“Most of the times when individuals buy and sell houses in secret, they go through brokers,” he said. “This is because some of the brokers are able to block the issuance of housing crackdown documents from regulatory agencies like the People’s Committee’s Urban Management Department and the Social Security Department.”

Raid on realtors

The crackdown has been going on for more than 10 days, according to the Pyongyang source.

“In early April, the Social Security Department drove into the vacant lot near Songyogak restaurant and arrested all the brokers gathered there,” he said.

The lot near the popular Pyongyang restaurant has been the center of the city’s private real estate market since the mid-1990s, with brokers on site to connect sellers and buyers and help negotiate prices, according to the Pyongyang source. But since the arrests, the department has maintained a presence there, preventing buyers, sellers, and brokers from gathering.

The term “housing decorators,” has become a slang phrase for real estate brokers in North Hamgyong, the source there said.

“In April, Chongjin began a crackdown on all housing transactions that were conducted through decorators,” she said. “There was a woman who got arrested after she introduced the sellers of an apartment home to some buyers.”

The woman was released only after a few days, according to the North Hamgyong source.

“People are saying that she got out because she closes so many housing transactions and she is close to the Social Security Department,” she said. 

With North Korea in dire economic straits these days, homeowners have been making ends meet by selling their homes downtown to buy cheaper properties in the outskirts of the city, or by selling their modern apartments to buy inexpensive older single-story homes, according to the North Hamgyong source, but every private transaction is risky.

“If authorities discover any private housing transactions, the house is forfeited and all of the money in the transaction is seized,” she said. 

“For ordinary residents who don’t have any power in society, it is much more advantageous to rely on a broker for the difficult issuance of house use permits,” she said, “and to smooth over any issues with authorities which might occur after the transactions are complete.”

Private housing transactions were always a risk even before the current crackdown, but now buyers and sellers need to be more cautious, the source said.

“If these crackdowns on housing transactions continue, it will be increasingly difficult for the powerless members of society who want to make ends meet by selling their house.” 

Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.