The heads of North Korean neighborhood watch units tasked with spying on citizens gathered in Pyongyang for a “national meeting” this week, according to state media, in a rare event aimed at strengthening public surveillance and the regime’s ideological control.

“The third national meeting of active leaders of people’s neighbourhood units” — grassroots administrative groups known in the DPRK as inminban — took place from Sunday to Monday and drew hundreds of participants from around the country, with top officials like Premier Pak Thae Song attending.

The event was the first of its kind since leader Kim Jong Un took