Head of ‘Office 121’ Company Missing

The head of a foreign currency-earning enterprise, which is
said to be involved in managing Kim Jong Eun’s slush fund, has disappeared, raising
questions as to why. The company, which is based in Yangkang Province, operates
under the No.121 Department, a bureau that specializes in timber supplies.

A source told the Daily NK in a telephone interview on September
23rd, “There were rumors that the head of the ‘Office 121’ affiliated trading
company had vanished, and recently, the State Security Department [SSD] even
came here looking for him.”

He went on to report that SSD officials had told residents “to
never leak information on his disappearance to others outside,” also
threatening, “If you talk to anyone about this on the phone, there will be no
forgiveness. Even bribes cannot save you. If you carry around bribes, you will
be put under further scrutiny.”

The unit, located in Kim Hyung Jik County, was once a
department running within the Yangkang Bureau of Timber until the 1990s.
However, at the turn of the century, it proposed a plan to produce high-quality
paper to Kim Jong Il, which was approved and led to its elevation to a bureau.

The office logs trees in Yangkang and Jakang Provinces and
exports them to China to raise money for the Chosun Workers’ Party, and also
imports paper from China to publish papers such as the Rodong Sinmun, the Chosun
People’s Army, and the Youths’ Advance Guard.

“The No.121 Department exports logs to China and brings in
capital for the central party,” the source said. “Companies that are involved
in raising money for the party have a good amount of capital, so this explains
why SSD authorities have come all the way here to look for him.”

With the whereabouts of the trade company head unknown,
residents have made it an issue of key interest, discussing it wherever they
meet, be it at agricultural mobilization venues, at work, and even in the
markets. As residents started showing signs of respect for the trading company head, who
is rumored to have fled with the money, security officials issued a gag order
on the matter at local inminban [people’s unit] meetings. 

According to the source, officials have been stating,
“Rumors of such inaccurate things are groundless and eat away our society,” in
their effort to silence residents. Despite that, most have dismissed such
warnings, speculating that the incident stems from a political problem, saying,
“Someone holding a position like that would not have had to worry about making
enough to get by.”

Some have expressed sympathy for the absent company head,
“There must have been a problem related to money, since the company managed funds
for the Party,” adding, “However loyal you are to the Party, if they want to
dig something up and put it on you, no one can be free. Lower officials are
bearing the brunt from those higher up.”

“These days it seems like more officials with higher posts
are defecting, compared to regular members of the public,” the source
explained. “This ‘Office 121’ incident is the same case, but when someone with
an important role like that leaves, it means they have no other choice.”

A defector who had once been to the No.121 Department for an
event told Daily NK, “A worker in Yeonsa County, North Hamkyung Province cut
down a kuho [tree inscribed with slogans praising Kim Il Sung during the
struggle against Japanese rule] by mistake and was executed for it.” He went on
to explain that after that incident, trading companies all over the country,
including 25 of the largest under the Political Bureau as well as the Air Force
bases, were put under self-review.”

North Korea’s paper manufacturing industry developed rapidly
during Japan’s colonial rule and continued after independence due to the
nation’s rich timber resources. But production facilities have not been
updated, nor automated, making production efficiency and the quality of output
low. Moreover, the lack of raw material and power supply is said to have
inhibited full operation, leaving it at an average operation rate of 25 percent.