Following a poor harvest and dwindling grain supplies throughout the country, an agricultural official in North Hamgyong Province is awaiting trial for stealing more than two tons of rice earmarked for military use, local sources report.
“The prosecutors’ office heavily monitored farms across North Hamgyong Province, eventually finding that the head of a work unit on a farm in Saebyol County had been pocketing rice supplies for himself,” a source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK in a telephone call.
“He put his personal loading truck next to the one allocated for military rice provisions, siphoned off 2 tons of it in secret, and then sold it to a wholesaler. He’s detained now and awaiting trial for his crime. The administrator he bribed to manipulate the military rice stock records is also expected to face some sort of consequences.”
The prosecutor’s office was able to use the forged ledger to prove malfeasance by comparing it to the military inventory.
A separate source in North Hamgyong Province said that a farm worker was the one who tipped the authorities off, adding that it seemed like he was selling some of the rice at the markets. He appears likely to receive a ‘reform through labor’ sentence of two years or more.
With the goal of securing sufficient grain supplies for the nation’s military in the aftermath of an overall poor harvest, the authorities are intensely monitoring farms who failed to meet their state-mandated quotas.
Daily NK last month reported that in a bid to mitigate significant shortfalls resulting from last year’s poor harvest, the North Korean authorities have ordered residents to donate rice to the military.
“Everyone in Saebyol County is talking about this and how serious the punishment is likely to be, considering it involves state food supply,” a separate source in North Hamgyong Province said.
