Dandong, Chian — It is reported that the manager of Gangsun Steel Mill (Chollima Steel Complex) was executed by firing squad for illegally accumulating wealth. Gangsun Steel Mill is located in the Gangseo-district of Nampo, South Pyoungan Province.
“Recently the Party strengthened regulations concerning embezzlement by the military and enterprise cadres. Following the close inspection of several military cadres, any enterprise managers who were caught embezzling have executed” the source said, during a telephone conversation with Daily NK.
“Gangsun Steel Mill is the place where high-grade steel is manufactured in collaboration with China. The manager of the steel mill and Chinese engineers had been fabricating the output and selling the high-grade steel and keeping it secret,” the source said. “It was reported that during the surprise inspection, a 71kg sack of US dollars was found in the manager’s place, and a 30kg sack of US dollars was found in the house of a director of the Safety Agency responsible for the steel mill.”
“The wife of the manager reportedly said to the inspectors ‘If you absolve the manager, we will give you the equivalent of a year’s provisions of the people of Gangseo-district.’ I could not imagine how much wealth they accumulated by illegal means.” The source added “The manager of Gangsun Steel Mill and the chief secretary of the Province were executed even before the preliminary examinationAlso referred to as a "pretrial," the preliminary examinatio... More.” The exact amount of detected money was not reported.
Related to this report, a cashier from the head office of the Korea Exchange Bank in Seoul said “1 kg of US dollars is estimated to be about 100 thousand US dollars. A 70kg sack would come to about 7 million dollars, which turns out to be 70 billion in Korean Won. It is a huge amount of money that would completely fill at least seven briefcases”
The Gangsun Steel Mill is a symbol of the “Chollima Movement.” The movement, enforced by the government from 1956 into the 1960’s, steered social reform in the way of communism through the process of boosting economic production. At the outset of the Chollima Movement, Kim Il Sung visited the Gangsun Steel Mill and ordered an increase in the production of steel materials, demanding reserve laborers to work as much as possible.
The Pyongyang Committee of the Party has been recently enforcing tougher inspections of military units in Pyongyang and the troops of rear services, and executions and purges occur in succession, the source said.
“The inspection units led by the Party were established to extensively inspect the army near Pyongyang and the units of rear services” the source said. “The managers of the parachute troop in Pyongyang’s Duru-dong district, the military food factory in-front of Mirim station, the private hotel run by the April 25 Unit, and the shooting range run by the Sports Division were purged one after another for suspicion of embezzlement”
