A civic group campaigning for improved human rights situations in North Korea says the communist regime will strengthen its security on a river people use to cross into China.

According to a report by the group “Good Friends” on Wednesday, North Koreans who cross the river into China will be considered defectors and will be punished by the North’s security agency.

Other human rights groups say that North Koreans who cross the river will be subject to light punishments, unless they are doing so to flee the North or to come in contact with South Koreans, in which case they will be subject to severe punishments.