North Korea has reportedly been ramping up
crackdowns on the illicit viewing of South Korean dramas, but according to
sources within the country, the pervasive bribe culture renders these orders largely ineffective at curtailing the number of residents secretly watching media from below the border.
The Kim Jong Eun era has seen emphasis on
harsh punishment for South Korean drama viewing, including extreme measures
such as execution and detainment in political prison camps. But as of late it
appears these orders rarely come to fruition.
“People caught for watching South Korean
dramas aren’t being punished that harshly anymore,” a source based in Pyongyang told the Daily NK on Wednesday. “Authorities in charge have been turning a blind eye in exchange for
bribes, so all we hear about is people being caught and not punished for what
they did.”
However, she was quick to note that this situation is not indicative of any lax in regulation. “This doesn’t
mean the crackdowns from the 109 group, the SSD, the Ministry of People’s Security, and inminban [people’s unit]
have gotten any looser,” she explained. “They frequently search people’s homes and
demand bribes if any CDs or flash drives containing South Korean dramas are
discovered.”
She went on to explain that the 109 Group,
a specialist team comprising people from the Ministry of People’s Security [MPS], the Party, and the administration, looks for, in
particular, discs of South Korean films, dramas, and music. Some residents have reportedly paid up to 500 USD in bribes in response to the demands by this
group and others conducting clampdowns.
“Some of the personnel carrying out these
crackdowns tell people that if they don’t give them
bribes, they might be sent to prison camps, never to leave for the rest of
their lives,” the source said. “They often tell you that if you don’t have
enough, that you should at least make an effort; many times they eventually say
they’ll look the other way for 100 USD.”
“When orders come down from the top,
initially they carry them out according to the standard principles in place,
but after a while, each unit starts to compete for bribes,” she went on. “Some people even say that for
those who conduct continual crackdowns for a year, buying ten homes would be so
easy it’s a joke.”
According to the source, busy receiving
bribes, these officials typically tell those in higher ranking positions that
the number of people watching South Korean media has dropped as a result of the
stringent measures. In turn, these higher ups–also beneficiaries of the very same
bribes–simply respond with, “Keep up the tight surveillance,” and leave it at that, without implementing additional measures.
She added that the probability of central
powers being cognizant of these matters is high, but given the
longstanding culture of bribery rampant among all officials–regardless of
rank–the plausibility of rooting out such practices is difficult, if not
impossible.
Also surely aware of this issue is leader Kim Jong Eun, overlooking it so that he can hold on to his leadership and secure loyalty from
the power elite in the country. Unable–or unwilling–to be a benefactor himself,
he allows Party cadres to fill their pockets by wielding their power.
“The Marshal [Kim Jong Eun] says he will
strictly punish corruption among cadres, but bribery has not gone down at all,” the source asserted. “It doesn’t seem like any of the cadres that are exposed for corruption are
penalized, so only the people are suffering.”
As this situation of bribery and corruption
persists unabated, people complain, “Is this money that
cadres swipe all going to the highest leader [Kim Jong Eun] at the end of the
day?” Most point out that “even if the elite fill their own pockets, they’re nowhere close to the highest dignity [Kim Jong Eun],” the source concluded.
