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Feb 2, 2010

Violence erupts in N.Korea

SEOUL - ANGRY North Koreans have attacked security agents as hunger mounts following a crackdown on market trade, according to reports on Tuesday by groups in Seoul with contacts in the communist state. Unrest has emerged in the isolated state since a shock currency revaluation by Pyongyang last November worsened shortages of food and other goods, they said. Daily NK, an online newspaper hostile to the regime in the North, said 'a number of people' assaulted a group of security agents on patrol on Monday in markets in Pyongsung, South Pyongan province. It gave no details of any casualties.

The paper, citing a group of defectors, said a fight had also broken out recently between residents and security agents monitoring the crackdown in Hyesan in Yanggang province. As the fight turned nasty, it said, one resident snatched a gun from an agent and fired at random - leaving one security official in critical condition. The North told its citizens on Nov 30 to swap old banknotes for new at a rate of 100 to one. But it capped the amount which could be exchanged, reportedly wiping out some people's savings and causing widespread anger. The revaluation was widely seen as an attempt by the regime to reassert control over the economy and clamp down on growing free-market activities. -- AFP