North Korea has placed special troops near its border with China, apparently not to ward off outside aggression but to prevent an increasing number of its citizens escaping from the Stalinist North.

That’s according to the Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun which described the North Korean unit as capable of both land and marine-based operations and under the direct command of the North’s National Defense Committee, chaired by Pyongyang leader Kim Jong-il.

Meanwhile, it says China has also set up monitoring equipment every kilometer along the same border, making it more difficult for North Korean refugees to flee their homeland.