When I was in North Korea, I often heard about balloons filled with poisoned food and items sent from South Korea. The secret police (보위부) held weekly neighborhood meetings (인민반회의) warning us not to touch them and to report them immediately. But the truth is, they weren’t poisoned — they were humanitarian aid from South Korea. Still, the regime, afraid people would discover the truth about the outside world, punished those who didn’t follow the rules and kept the balloon items. #askanorthkorean