North Korean traders in China returned to
North Korea on April 15th, the “Day of the Sun” — Kim Il Sung’s birthday and
the biggest national holiday — carting various kickbacks that they purchased
in order to bribe Party, administrative, and military officials.
“Dandong was abuzz with North Korean
merchants purchasing goods to serve as bribes for ‘Day of the Sun,’ a source in
Dandong reported to Daily NK on April 17th. “Bribing officials is crucial
for them to secure a smooth year of trading.”
Laying flowers at the twin Kim statues– ubiquitous around the country– is an invariable part of every major holiday in
North Korea, with more wealthy residents vying to demonstrate the most
“loyalty” by presenting the largest baskets or bouquets. Traders capitalize on
this, carting in huge, expensive arrangements of flowers to peddle off for people to place at the foot
of the “Statue of the Sun [Kim Il Sung].” Traders “loyalty,” on the other hand, is evaluated by the quality of products they bring in to serve as bribes.
“Merchants most commonly purchase South Korean products as bribes, like undergarments, razors, refrigerators,
washing machines, and air conditioners. They also purchase South Korean
cosmetic products for the wives of officials,” she said, adding that various hard liquors–including Hennessy, known to be a favorite of Kim Jong Il’s– and fruit from the southern parts of China are also popular.
Kickbacks of this nature are always preferred, so merchants purchase them despite their prohibitive cost.
Officially, customs regulations prohibit individuals from bringing in more than
one bottle of liquor; however, according to the source, this is easily circumvented with more bribes.
She went on to state that merchants declare–both verbally and on the written forms–only the flower bouquets to the North Korean officials stationed in China to
carry out “political inspections.” This is immediately followed by a bribe to the customs
officials to have their containers, packed with an array of items, sail through the inspection.
On the “Day of the Sun,” North Korean
merchants remaining in China are still required to bring flowers to designated
places under the orders from the North Korean consulate in Shenyang, followed
by compulsory viewing of a video about Kim Il Sung’s revolutionary history.
Merchants, however, have their “minds on bribing the consulate officials over these
political events.”
North Korean merchants residing in
China are still obligated — just as residents in North Korea– to attend
criticism and self-criticism sessions, during which “disloyalties” are
scrutinized. Unsurprisingly, a bribe to the head of meeting suffices to get one
out of a session and secure a glowing review of their exemplary “Party life.”
*The content of this article was broadcast to the North Korean people via Unification Media Group.
