evidence: The government reportedly imposed internal exile on some citizens. For example, in 2022 RFA reported that 30 households in Ryanggang Province along the border with China were forcibly relocated to remote, mountainous areas after their family members escaped the country. [...] Shortly after the central government had changed the designation of escapees from "illegal border crossers" to "traitorous puppets," authorities in Ryanggang Province reportedly selected 30 households with two or more family members who had escaped and relocated them to villages such as Samsu, Kapsan, Pungso, and Pungsan, in remote mountainous regions. One couple in their 70s was selected because two of their grandsons defected. Other residents selected included the parents of sons or daughters who escaped, or children left behind after their parents fled to the ROK. In June RFA reported authorities forcibly relocated residents near the border with the PRC in Ryanggang Province. The ostensible reason was demolishing "unsightly" single-story homes, but RFA’s sources believed the true aim was preventing unauthorized border crossings and international telephone calls.