North Korea’s
Central Party has reportedly launched inspections into safety authorities and
high-ranking officials at local law enforcement units under the Ministry of
People’s Safety in the face of growing corruption and
use of coercion on residents. This is seen as a move to dispel mounting
discontent among the public that is stemming from the tighter grip and control
leader Kim Jong Eun has been enforcing.
A local source also speculated that the
measure could be a sign that the Central Party has determined this unruly governing
from state agencies to be hindering overall state control of the public.
“At the beginning of last month, documents
were handed down from the Central Party for orders to investigate local law
enforcement offices in the province,” the source based in
North Hamkyung Province told the Daily NK on Monday. “The
documents contained orders for provincial Party committees to put together
surveillance teams and investigate each and every case of verbal and physical
abuse against residents and acts of bribery from these law enforcement
officials.”
According to these
orders, the provincial Party department oversees the entire inspection, aimed
at investigating all acts of corruption from law enforcement officials, and with information procured from residents, purports to penalize all assailants involved.
The source explained that the orders come amid mounting anxiety from residents
due to the reckless misconduct from law enforcement officials, which he
asserted has grown more severe as of late.
The Kim Jong Eun era has stepped up surveillance and control to enhance solidarity and discipline over the
public, and in the process, law enforcement officials have arguably become more corrupt,
with many openly demanding bribes, and for those unwilling to comply, unleashing on them a torrent of verbal and physical attacks without hesitation.
In many of these cases, wielding their positions for monetary gain,
law officials team up with loan sharks and force people to pay back their
money; so frequently do these incidents involve bribes to be resolved, many residents refer to these corrupt officials as “digger wasps” behind their backs and curse
their general existence.
According to the source, the pretenses
offered for these bribes grow increasingly flimsy and baseless. “They inspect people’s belongings not only at
the markets, but also as they pass by streets and alleys and use whatever random
excuse they come up with to demand money and bribes. Cases of assault and
imprisonment for people who don’t willingly comply keep
increasing,” he said.
Desperate to keep the goods and profits on which residents are so reliant to maintain their livelihoods, some have taken
extreme measures to express their anger. “Recently in a
town in Musan County, a female gasoline merchant in her 40s attempted to set
herself on fire using diesel oil after being humiliated by a security official
who also confiscated her goods,” he said. Following
this incident, five officials attacked the woman’s
entire family in the middle of the night for her act of revolt, which led to
strong protest from other residents in the village.
Suicides have been another gruesome outcome of this corruption. “Toward the end of last year, dozens of
households in the coastal areas of both North and South Hamkyung Provinces lost
their homes or committed suicide because they were unable to pay back debt,” the source said. “Many people ended up with
mountains of debt because of the abysmal squid catch, but law enforcement
officials would come and pressure them to pay it back, citing alleged legal
procedures, or overlook assaults from loan sharks. This has caused a lot of suicides.”
Outlined by the Central Party as anti-revolutionary actions that derail the Party and the public, acts like
these are presumably subject to severe punishments, but the source reported that in an internal inspection within the provincial Party such as this, existing relationships will play a pivotal role, predictably allowing for
those with money and power to evade punishment.
Another source in North Hamkyung Province
reported that some residents have actually suffered retaliation for reporting
incidents of abuse. Because the probe is an internal investigation, even if one
is to report corrupt officials, others with whom the subject in question is
close or the subject him or herself may hold a grudge and seek retribution.
Once the true nature of the investigation presented itself, many residents have
said, “This inspection is just for show so they can try
to tame the increasingly disaffected populace. If they really thought of verbal
and physical attacks as serious crimes, not a single law enforcement official
would be alive.”
